A Hollowed Out Heart
by darkphoneix
Summary: Ranma learns of the afterlife in the worst way possible. A crossover between Ranma and Bleach.
1. Prologue

Title- ?

Author- DrkPhnx

E-Mail- dark(underscore)phoneix(at)hotmail(dot)com. Stupid FF(dot)Net...jeeze.

Disclaimer- I almost literally own nothing, not to mention any series that may appear within this story. Please don't sue me!

Rating- PG-13

Pairing- None as of now

Spoilers- Through the end of Ranma 1/2. Not too sure about Bleach, as I've only seen the anime and the manga is so far ahead of it. Through the Soul Society arc at the very least.

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Prologue

xxxx

Ranma Saotome, age 17, student and self-proclaimed master of Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu, was going to be late for school. Again. Had he been the type to actually care about his education, Ranma could have been concerned about the academic consequences of excessive tardiness. As things stood, however, he was just an ignorant and cocky martial artist with little care for the vagaries of modern life and the commonly accepted belief that there was something wrong with being an uneducated lout. That suited the teenager just fine. Training with the perverted Old Freak, serious training, was worth whatever punishment his teacher's chose to mete out.

Unfortunately for the young man, a frustrated new math teacher not yet numbed into apathy by the antics that seemed to constantly surround Furinkan and a handful of its most notable students, had done the unthinkable. She'd called Ranma's mother. If ever there was proof that it had been a mistake to update his student records once the estrangement between Nodoka Saotome, her good for nothing, lying, thieving, cowardly husband, and her oh so manly yet strangely aquatransexual son, this was it.

So...Ranma ran for his life. Well, not really anything so dramatic. His mother's katana no longer hung over his head like a maternal Sword of Damacles, but she'd been "disappointed" in him! The pride Ranma felt for his martial prowess and the many victories it had allowed him over enemies no one in their right mind would confront, much less expect to overcome, was so great that he could actually harness the feeling into a growing arsenal of ki-based special attacks. This feeling paled in comparison, though, when compared to what a little motherly approval could invoke.

Was it any wonder that a few softly spoken words and a look of stern reprimand had turned the powerful young man into squirming jelly? Bouncing on his heels and doing his best to count the individual grains of wood in the floor beneath him, anything to avoid meeting Nodoka's gaze, Ranma had nodded sullenly as she'd reprimanded him for his recent bout of tardiness. Then she'd started in on him about his lackluster grades. This was followed by thoroughly reminding him that his attitude towards his teachers was unacceptable. Already feeling like the fiend Kuno so often claimed him to be, Ranma made the mistake of glancing up just once, only to find that his mother's eyes had gone misty with a haze of unshed tears. Was it possible to be lower than pond scum, Ranma had wondered to himself?

In the aftermath, not only had Ranma promised to be on time from then on, but he also obligated himself to study and attempt to bring his grades up to passing. Now here he was, a day later and he was going to break the promise already! Damn Happosai, the perverted bastard, for being such an engrossing instructor when not blinded by lust.

xxxx

It was only a few moments after Ranma realized he was going to be late, if only by a minute or two, that he felt the hungry/empty sensation he'd come to associate with Ryoga Hibiki's near-perpetual state of depression. According to Happosai, this sort of long-range perception was just another step in the growtht of his danger sense. They'd worked on improving the rudimentary ki detection ability off and on over the past couple months. Whether the investment in time was worth it had not yet been proven. Ranma was uncertain if he'd rather know far ahead of time that an enemy was coming for him, time that he could prepare himself for battle, or get that split second's warning he'd grown accustommed to, when the adrenaline and excitement surged most strongly.

Ranma steeled himself for a confrontation, hoping that Pig-Boy could at the very least wait until after school let out to challenge him again under the guise of attempted murder. He'd have crossed his fingers for luck, but felt that was only inviting some vindictive kami to further complicate his life.

With speed so far beyond human that he momentarily seemed to blur out of existance at times and leaps that bypassed a handful of Nerimian buildings in a single bound, Ranma very nearly reached his destinated, despite having left the Tendo home not much more than a minute earlier. He was impressed with himself. That wasn't very surprising, though, as Ranma was almost always impressed with himself for one reason or another.

Ranma needn't to have rushed, as was evident as he rounded a corner and and made ready to dash through the gates of Furinkan High School. He heard a scream and barely avoided being struck by the flailing body of a human projectile. Kuno hadn't convinced the male population of the school to attack Akane again, had he? That could certainly explain the crowd he found milling about in the courtyard. Akane wasn't much of a martial artist, truth be told, but she was quite magnificent when it came to unleashing her anger on those less powerful and more perverted than herself. Such a display was certain to be entertaining enough for an audience.

No...that most definitely was not the problem, Ranma decided before he could even leap to Akane's assistance. The decision wasn't difficult to make with the appearance of some sort of snake monster exploding into the air amid an audience wide gasp peppered with more than a few screams. Oddly, from what Ranma could tell, no one actually looked up as the creature, now revealed to be at least ten meters long and over a meter thick reached its zenith and arrowed its massive body towards an as of yet unseen target below.

With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, Ranma pushed through the back tier of the crowd, those far enough back to not even really know what was going on, flying snake monster aside, and leaped over the rest. Relief exploded through Ranma's chest and shot through his body as he saw Akane nowhere in sight. Maybe the stupid tomboy was in school already and out of harm's way. Yeah, and maybe non-Jusenkyo cursed pigs would fly.

Expecting Ryoga due to his earlier detection, even though the sensation caused by his presence didn't feel very close, Ranma was surprised to see Kuno doing battle with the mosnter as he landed. The delusional swordsman wasn't in the greatest shape, to say the least. Hakama torn and bloody, left arm hanging useless, either broken or dislocated, the kendoist raised his bokken overhead to ward off the incoming monster. Ki wreathed the wooden weapon like blue flame, lending it strength and lethality far beyond what one could expect of such a practice weapon.

Unwilling to let the older boy be crushed, no matter how much of a pain in the ass he could be, Ranma tossed the most powerful ki blast he could summon on such short notice. It was aimed at the creature's descending head with the hope of diverting its trajectory. Doubtful that it would be effective against that much mass, Ranma followed up with another, and another.

The first struck with the precision Ranma had come to expect, hammering into the multi-horned bone-like growth that covered the majority of his target's head. Much of the energy was deflected, but the resulting explosion also tossed Kuno several meters away from the landing zone. Ranma smirked as the monster struck the ground with far less grace than it had expected, writhing in in pain from the damage done by the attack. He didn't even care that the pain induced convulsions of its serpentine body had allowed the second and third blasts to sail by harmlessly.

Rushing to fill the combatant void left by Kuno's forced departure, no need to give it time to take its pain and anger out on helpless students, Ranma stepped forward, picking his way around the numerous holes he assumed the creature had made traveling through the earth and concrete of the courtyard. Only moments passed before his adversary brought itself under control, swinging its massive bulk around to face the bringer of its doom. Ugh, Ranma mentally grumbled at the thought, even proximity to Kuno is bad for my mental health.

Malevolence like Ranma had never encountered stared back at him through glowing red eyes, along with a great deal more intelligence than he'd expected from such a beast.

"Foolisssh human!" hissed the monster. What in hell was this thing anyway? A demon? "I will devour your pathetic sssoul!"

Not one to be thwarted by the threats of an overgrown worm, Ranma retorted, "Bring it on, snake breath. I ain't some pushover like Kuno!" A slight effort of will ignited his battle aura, surrounding Ranma in a golden radiance.

xxxx

Caught up in what was sure to be a memorable fight, if only because he had never fought a giant talking snake demon before, Ranma missed the mixture of excited and fearful conversations from the students behind him. They had backed further away after his arrival, due to survival instincts taught to avoid Ranma's fights if at all possible, so maybe he just wasn't within earshot.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Okay, seriously, am I going crazy?"

"Did you see that fireball? It hit something in mid-air!"

"Wow, I guess Kuno wasn't having a drug-induced seizure afterall."

"Now it's invisible monsters. Jeeze, what else are we going to run across before we graduate from this hell hole?"

Further back, away from the curious students, a figure rested against the inner wall of the Furinkan premises.

"There you are, Akane!" Sayuri exclaimed with relief as she and Yuka finally found their missing friend. "We've been so worried!"

Sayuri knelt down to give the girl a once over, checking for any obvious injuries.

Yuka's scream pierced the air, followed a moment later by a considerably more shrill Sayuri. They were the first to notice the glazed eyes weren't merely glassy, but unblinking as well, that no breath passed her lips as her chest no longer rose and fell.

"Oh, Kami-sama, Akane!!!"

xxxx

"Oh, Kami-sama, Akane!!!"

The screams, followed by that dread exclamation, roared in Ranma's ears, snapping his head around. He paled, his battle aura guttering out like a wind blown flame with no fuel.

Before he could rush off, the demon chuckled, a hideous hissing sound that made Ranma's stiffened spine crawl uncomfortably.

"Akane, eh? A pity I missssed the little girl'sss name. Mmmm, Akane. Knowing its name makesss the food tasste ssso much sssweeter." A tri-forked tongue that must have been three meters long slipped from the mouth-like cavity in the demon's bone mask, making a gross parody of licking nonexistant lips. "Even ssso, what a deliciousss sssnack her sssoul made!"

There was an explosion then. Centered on Ranma, the swirling mass of angry red ki grew into a vortex reaching higher thank the Furinkan clock tower and blew broken concrete and great chunks of disturbed earth into his rapidly retreating fellow students.

xxxx

Author's Notes: Howdy, folks. Long time no see, eh? Some of you may be familiar with fics I've written in the past or you may not. It's been a few years. I'd like to thank everyone who continued to send me reviews for my stories throughout my absence from the fandom and apologize for not replying to them. I'm a lazy bastard and I've been in a weirdly apathetic state of mind for a while. I'm not sure if the writer's block is finally gone or not, it's been around so long I'm kinda surprised I even wrote this, but I'll try to keep working on it and maybe even get back to work on some of my other stories. Only time will tell. Btw, when did FF(dot)net become such a pain in the ass to post to?

As for this story, it's a crossover of sorts, but I haven't decided how heavily to involve the characters and events from Bleach, if I will at all. One thing that has always been a central element in my stories is my severe dislike of Akane. I don't regret it, but I'm going to try a different route with this one, killing her off but while Ranma still cares greatly for her. This way I hope to avoid pointless and all to easy Akane bashing along the way. Please read and review! I'm so badly out of practice writing I'm sure I need all the help I can get.

I can't even come up with a decent name for this fic. :(

Anyone got any suggestions?


	2. Chapter 1

Title- A Hollowed Out Heart

Author- DrkPhnx

E-Mail- dark(underscore)phoneix(at)hotmail(dot)com. Stupid FF(dot)Net...jeeze.

Disclaimer- I almost literally own nothing, not to mention any series that may appear within this story. Please don't sue me!

Rating- PG-13

Pairing- None as of now

Spoilers- Through the end of Ranma 1/2. Not too sure about Bleach, as I've only seen the anime and the manga is so far ahead of it. Through the Soul Society arc at the very least.

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Chapter One

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Thirteen weeks ago...

"Well, doc, what's the verdict?" Happosai enquired, a veneer of optimism hiding his fears. Maybe for the first time ever, he'd really been feeling his age lately. There had been no single symptom he could blame it on. Joints ached, his back hurt, he was always tired...

The list had of ailments had grown frighteningly long, but worst of all was the nagging sense of breathlessness, like he could never quite sate his need for oxygen.

Doctor Tofu frowned, never comfortable with passing on bad news. "Well, Master Happosai, there's really no easy way to say this." He glanced down at his desk and the myriad medical documents it held, from the damning x-ray results to the strange blood tests. "My colleagues and I can't find any exact cause for your decline. As I'm sure your aware, your physiology is all but unique. No one has any experience with a living body in excess of three centuries old, let alone one with your amazing abilities."

At this, Happosai sighed to himself. He'd lived a long, long life, far greater than many would ever hope, and he'd enjoyed it to the fullest, but with his own mortality staring him in the face, he found that he wasn't ready to die. There was so much left to do, so much knowledge not yet passed on. Kami, he had to talk to Cologne-chan and somehow convince her to get a checkup. Amazon ki-magic wasn't so reliable that modern medicine could be ignored entirely.

"The best we can say, without overreaching, is that your body is simply worn out. Virtually all of your vital organs are beginning to deteriorate, most notably your lungs and kidneys. You haven't done yourself any favors smoking that pipe and the sake hasn't been very kind to you, either." This last statement, while it felt too much like twisting the knife once it was buried in his victim's back, had to be said. If Happosai was to prolong what remained of his life any appreciable amount, there were certain habits he could no longer indulge in.

"I figured it would be something like that," said the wizened old master glumly. "How much time do I have left?" No point in beating around the bush.

"In your case, Master Happosai, it is very difficult to give even a rough estimate. At your current rate of decline, I'd hesitate to say more than three months." Happosai's eyes widened at this. Such a short time? "It's not unreasonable to assume that we can extend this, though. With a proper diet and appropriate medications, along with some effort on your part, we may be able to extend your remaining time to as much as a year."

I can't expect more than three months, depressing as that is, Happosai thought. Anything longer will be a gift. The boy is uncanny, but I can't possibly teach him everything in three months. I can give him the basics, get him pointed in the right direction.

"Okay, doc, my life is in your hands."

xxxx

"You're still trying too hard, m'boy," Happosai murmured around his pipe. He hadn't lit it in months, but the habit of having clenched between his teeth was almost as hard to break as the smoking itself. "Don't make it so large. Find your comfort zone, the point where the ki exerted is slightly less than what you naturally recover. Neither Genma nor Soun, the useless layabouts, ever managed to learn this correctly, and even I allow my emotions to ruin the balance more often than not. You're better than that!"

Sweat soaked, Ranma nodded at the old man's advice and once again summoned his ki, using unshakable confidence as a catalyst. The golden flame wasn't so intense as it had been when they began earlier in the morning, but that was just fine. These lessons were about control, not power or stamina, which Ranma had a lifetime to work on. Of course the young prodigy could have learned all of this on his own, Happosai was certain, but he wouldn't be forced to learn through years of trial and error as Happosai himself had.

Over the span of a minute, Happosai waited patiently while Ranma built up his battle aura. With a grunt of effort, Ranma rose into the air, supported by his aura's now humanoid form. Four meters tall, the molded battle aura held Ranma within its torso, wavering in consistency and apparent solidity. Finally, its surface seemed to smooth and the golden light became uniform throughout.

With a critical eye, Happosai observed the battle aura while Ranma looked on. Satisfied at its stability, he changed focus and looked instead to the boy's inner ki reserves. There had been a few close calls early on when Ranma inadvertently tapped his vital aura, but that was no longer a concern. The core of Ranma's spiritual power was solid and strong, unaffected by the exertions of the day. Seeing that Ranma appeared to have finally reached the point where he expended less energy than his body generated, Happosai grinned internally.

"Good enough, boy. You've got it, but just barely. Let's see if you can walk the knife's edge while doing more than impersonating a statue."

xxxx

Not for the first time, Hell, not for the thousandth time, Ranma wondered to himself just what was going on with Happosai. The old martial arts master was still a pain, he was entirely to happy to employ that damned pipe to Ranma's pained detriment, but it was almost like he was a new man. A very old, very perverted, new man. In the past months, ever since he'd begun to train Ranma, no one could recall seeing a bottle of sake anywhere near him. For that matter, the Tendo household had gone quite dry, at least as far as liquor was concerned. It didn't require much effort to convince Genma and Soun to take their boozing out on the town, not after seeing just how adverse their old master had become to it.

Perpetual sobriety was amazing. The spine cracking, toe curling wonder of wonders, however, was the lack of panty raids. No one Ranma had spoken with, himself included, had seen or heard of Happosai going on his once nightly crusade to liberate his "silky darlings". The pervert wasn't lacking in panties, for sure, there just wasn't any discernable source for them. Ranma was honestly a little scared to contemplate that particular mystery. There were some things people just didn't need to know.

xxxx

"Thanks for the help, Kasumi-chan!" Happosai exclaimed happily. From her raised position, and with the friendly assistance of a timely gust of wind, he'd just caught a glimpse of her not at all matronly panties...and were those garter belts? Oh my...

"Yeah, thanks, Kasumi. I couldn't afford Nabiki's help and Akane's still mad at me about the beauty contest." Ranma's voice was muffled by being suspended within the extremely coherent aura. Happosai had neglected teaching certain aspects of this technique, such as voice amplification, in favor of focussing on the more important aspects.

Kasumi Tendo had been hanging laundry out to dry when she was dragooned into playing a small part in Ranma's training. Now she was suspended a dozen feet in the air, sitting demurely on the huge immaterial left hand of Ranma's solidified battle aura.

"Think nothing of it, grandfather, Ranma. This is quite exciting!"

Attention focussed back on Ranma, Happosai asked,"Can you feel the disturbance Kasumi-chan's natural aura causes with your own, Ranma?" At Ranma's nod, he continued,"The more powerful the individual's ki, the greater the disturbance will be. It's not a problem, even this early in your training, as long as the disturbance is small and easily smoothed over. You wouldn't be able to hold that arm together if I took Kasumi-chan's place for more than a second or two."

xxxx

And back to the present...

Ranma's otherworldly pyrotechnics display lasted only a few short seconds. During that time the eerie red light cast strange shadows across the courtyard. Once the mindless rage receded, replaced for the time being by the inhuman calm indicative of the Soul of Ice, the cyclonic tower of energy eased back, shrinking and coalescing around Ranma. As it shrunk, the ki changed hues. Red eased into purple and purple faded to glacial blue.

Floating a foot above the churned rubble below, shrouded in a haze of crackling energy and a fine mist of condensed moisture, Ranma disregarded the great majority of what he'd recently learned from Happosai. He had no urge to fight, not even a desire to kill. There was a single goal clear within his mind and he would accomplish it as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

"Sssuch ssspiritual power!" exclaimed the demon. Rearing up like a cobra preparing to strike, it raised itself half its length into the air to loom over Ranma. "I will melt the flesssh from your bonesss, human, and feast on your bloated sssoul." In its stationary and elevated position, there was a gaping hole through the demon's midsection.

"No," Ranma whispered hoarsely,"you will die."

Onlookers were unsure of what Ranma was talking to, but none of them doubted his sincerity. There had been stories, little more than rumors, about things Ranma had done for Akane far away from Nerima and the halls of Furinkan. It was not difficult to believe in destroyed mountains or slain kami, not when they could see such a display before their very eyes. Those who hadn't fled outright continued to press backwards. Only a minute had passed since the young man's arrival and the school was beginning to disgorge its students as the commotion drew greater attention.

xxxx

"Damn it, people, move out of the way!" Nabiki shouted. For a physically unimposing girl who hadn't seriously practiced her family's martial art for years, the middle Tendo daughter carved a path through the packed students with amazing proficiency. Those who didn't willingly clear a path were harshly shoved aside. She reached her sister and the small gathering of concerned or curious students not interested in another of Ranma's incredible displays a short distance away.

One of Nabiki's subordinate's followed in her wake, a large first-aid kit clutched tightly to her chest.

A girl, Nabiki recognized her as one of Akane's friends, Yuka or Sayuri, she thought, stepped forward, blocking her advance.

"N-N-Nabiki," Yuka stammered, still in shock,"you m-might not want to s-see."

xxxx

Conciousness returned to Tatewaki Kuno and with it came pain. It hurt terribly to breathe and his left shoulder was a firey pit of agony shooting eye watering pain down to his fingertips. Amazingly, his righteous blade had not slipped from his grasp despite the explosion of holy fire that ejected him from battle with the serpent fiend.

More pain lanced through Tatewaki's skull as he cracked open his eyes to survey what had become of the enemy. Had the fierce tigress Akane Tendo returned to do battle while he was incapacitated? Were his faithful vassals and fellow swordsmen from the kendo club attempting to subdue the beast in his absence? No, it did not appear so. In fact, Tatewaki could only assume his injuries were more dire than he had originally assumed. Otherwise, he really was seeing...the vile sorcerer Ranma Saotome?...blazing like an icy blue kami, facing off against one of his brethren in evil?

He was obviously suffering from delusions brought on by severe head trauma, Tatewaki decided. Hopefully the mercenary Nabiki Tendo would be along shortly to sale him her incredibly overpriced medical services.

xxxx

The laughing demon spat a long stream of acidic black ichor at Ranma.

In retaliation, Ranma's aura surged forward in a single massive torrent. The crashing wave of ki immediately took the shape of a roaring Chinese dragon. The ki dragon ignored the still airborne acid, which couldn't decide if it should freeze or vaporize, so it did both in turn, and smashed into the demon.

A single flash of actinic blue light nearly blinded those still watching, but the pain was rewarded with a brief glimpse of a nightmare creature, the outline of an unbelievably large serpent was visible. In fact, that outline didn't appear to be fading as it should, and wouldn't for some time. The ki generated image would linger, all but burnt into their retinas.

As for the demon, it no longer laughed. More to the point, it no longer existed.

xxxx

Manami Sato, Shinigami of 7th Division within the Gotei 13, stood precariously close to the edge of her perch near the top of Furinkan High School's clock tower. She was currently unable to move, paralyzed by the overwhelming level of spiritual energy saturating the area.

Her unusual orders were explicit. She was not to engage this Hollow unless serious loss of life was imminent. Standing by, hidden from sight while the corrupted soul consumed a vagrant just before dawn galled her, but she'd held herself back, fighting against everything she'd been taught in the academy except for obedience to her superiors. The reason she was given for allowing such an atrocity was simple and horrifying enough.

Somehow, the technicians of 12th Division were convinced that a nearby human was not only capable of luring a Hollow into the area, but also exerting some measure of control over it. Whatever reason they had to believe the Hollow named Slythe was under the control of a spiritually aware human, it was Manami's task to track the human down and if at all possible, bring it back to Soul Society for a most thorough enquiry.

Unfortunately, for her conscience and the life of at least one young girl below, Manami lost track of the burrowing Hollow. Unable to properly track the spiritual predator until it surfaced once more, she arrived too late to interfere with the murder of the school girl. If it was any consolation, the poetry spouting loon with the wooden sword at least interrupted Slythe before it could feed on the now disembodied soul. Whatever strange power the boy possessed which allowed him to see the Hollow and charge his toy sword with spirit energy would have been a fascinating oddity at any other time. For now, that talent only made him a more attractive morsel for Slythe to feed upon.

Before the Shinigami could intervene to rescue the human boy, however, she sensed another powerful spiritual presence rapidly approaching. Another Shinigami?

From her vantage point, Manami was able to see, for just a second, another human boy Flash Step(!?) to a point just outside the gates to the school. He avoided a younger student sent flying by Slythe's explosive exit from the Earth. Heedless of the danger, this newcomer leaped to the aide of his schoolmate, firing three quick bursts of spirit energy at the Hollow on its deadly descent. What was going on in the human world to produce these incredibe children?

The first struck true, removing Slythe's target from the picture and wounding the Hollow severely enough to slightly crack its mask. Words were exchanged which Manami could not overhear from her position and the human burst into golden flame, his spirit pressure rising dramatically. As a Shinigami with over a century of experience, she had seen much greater displays of personal power on several occassions, but only from those seated highly within their Divisions.

"Oh, Kami-sama, Akane!!!"

Even from the clock tower, Manami was able to see the color drain from the boy's face as his spiritual energy was extinguished. Oh, the poor boy, she thought, the girl must have been import-

Later, Manami's mind would try to attribute a sound to the explosion of vast spiritual pressure radiating from the human boy. That would be much later, though, when the aftermath of this morning's events were fully analyzed. For now, the Shinigami watched, unable to move, barely able to blink with so much power weighing her down, as Slythe met a quick end, utterly destroyed by the manifestation of raw spirit energy. There was no cleansing for this corrupted soul, not at the vengeful hands of a human boy with no means to remove the Hollow taint.

Abruptly, the pressure faded and Manami was able to move. She felt tattered around the edges, as if her soul had been sand blasted with spirit particles until it was worn down to a nub. She shook the feeling off. There was work to do. At least one Soul Burial would have to be performed and there were a great many memories to be modified before the authorities arrived. And if logic and reason continued to hold sway in a human world apparently gone mad, Manami would need to avoid the human who defeated Slythe. If he could see a Hollow, he very likely had the ability to see a Shinigami.

xxxx

Wordlessly, Ranma sank to his knees beside the corpse of his fiance. Tentatively, he reached out to nudge Akane's shoulder. There was no response. Her eyes didn't open. She didn't even shift restlessly as if disturbed in sleep.

"Akane?" Ranma whispered. "Come on, please don't do this. Wake up already."

Vaguely, some part of his mind registered the sound of Nabiki nearby, her stomach still trying to empty itself in a bush. There were crying girls somewhere behind him. Ranma suddenly didn't feel very well. Maybe Nabiki had the right idea.

"Ranma?" The voice was quite, but it was unmistakably that of his fiance...his dead fiance.

xxxx

Author's Notes: Please forgive my use of such unorthodox Shinigami behavior. There's a reason Manami got the orders she did and I'll further elaborate on that in later chapters. I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the first part of the fic or just said "Hi". It's cool hearing from people I lost touch with years ago.

Please read and review!


	3. Chapter 2

Title- A Hollowed Out Heart

Author- DrkPhnx

E-Mail- dark(underscore)phoneix(at)hotmail(dot)com. Stupid FF(dot)Net...jeeze.

Disclaimer- I almost literally own nothing, not to mention any series that may appear within this story. Please don't sue me!

Rating- PG-13

Pairing- None as of now

Spoilers- Through the end of Ranma 1/2. Not too sure about Bleach, as I've only seen the anime and the manga is so far ahead of it. Through the Soul Society arc at the very least.

xxxx

Chapter Two

xxxx

"Hey, kid, beat it. You're getting in the way." Camera in hand, the evidence technician had waited as long as his patience would allow. He needed to photograph the body so the coroner could transport it to the morgue. "Didn't you hea- urk!"

"Kaneda, you heartless bastard!" Transfixed into a rictus of agony, Kaneda was quickly dragged by his partner, ear first, back to their equipment laden vehicle. She only released him when they were firmly out of hearing range.

"What's the big idea, Kei!" Kaneda growled darkly, all the while massaging his pained lobe. He had a twenty centimeter height advantage over the woman and outweighed her by at least thirty kilograms. It just wasn't right for her to bully him like this!

"The big idea? The big idea?" Kaneda heard teeth grinding as the diminutive terror's jaw clenched. "That poor boy's fiance is lying there dead and you can't give him a few more minutes to grieve? The detective didn't seem to mind, so why should you care? I swear, if I wasn't such a good person I'd take that camera and shove it so far up your ass you'd be able to...grrr...I don't know what you'd be able to do, but it wouldn't be very pleasant!"

Kaneda could have retorted with the perfectly sound argument that the explosion had been over an ago, plenty of time to say goodbye. Instead, choosing the path of least resistance, he shrugged off Kei's glare and headed off to snap a few more shots of the strange craters the investigators thought may have been caused by underground gas pockets.

xxxx

Akane had reached a major conclusion pretty quickly. It wasn't really difficult once the disorientation passed.

She was dead.

As a newly deceased person, or ghost, Akane thought she was handling the transition from mortal girl to immaterial spirit fairly well. She wasn't filled with rage at her untimely death, nor did she despair at all she would miss with her life so drastically foreshortened, and she didn't blame anyone for her demise. Actually, Akane thought, I'm not acting like me at all. Why am I not angry? I should be royally pissed off right now.

Maybe it was shock? Would her normally robust emotions return later?

Whatever phenomena was at work, Akane wished it would allow her to speak with Ranma one last time. She'd tried for a few minutes to attract his attention, knowing it was futile but hoping for some small acknowledgement from her fiance nonetheless. There had been the smallest twitch when she first called his name, just enough to bait the hook, and that was it.

Why did he have to look so distraught? Ranma should be full of nervous energy, explosive power and feline grace trapped within human flesh topped with his infuriatingly cocky smirk. This motionless statue with the blank face and clouded eyes was not her Ranma. Eventually, Akane could not even bring herself to look at the boy without feeling an aching queasiness creep from her non-existant abdomen up her equally phantasmal spine. She would have tried to more closely examine her corpse if the sight of it, even completely intact and gore free, didn't trigger a mean case of vertigo.

This sucked.

xxxx

Manami held her breath and observed Akane's spirit attempting to speak with the boy for as long as she dared. The boy, Ranma, who's name she had gleaned, along with that of the victim, from overhearing snatches of nearby conversations, showed no signs of recognition. That was a small relief. How he was able to see the Hollow, let alone combat it, without being able to see a simple spirit was confusing. Then again, not much about this day hadn't been confusing.

Satisfied she could leave the spirit alone for a while, Manami went about the task of modifying the memories of the students and faculty of Furinkan. The task was simpler than it could have been once she determined the proper settings for her kikanshiki. Hurry into a classroom, zap those present, and move on to the next. Rinse and repeat. With only a little luck, she accomplished the task before authorities could begin asking questions they were best off not knowing the answers to.

Only the two boys, Ranma Saotome and Tatewaki Kuno had not yet been treated and Manami hesitated to proceed with either one of them. Tatewaki was being treated at a local hospital, his injuries numerous and severe, among them a major concussion. There was a very real danger of causing him permanent brain damage if she employed the kikanshiki before he recovered. In all likelihood, any outlandish claims he made in the days to follow would be dismissed as hallucinations caused by the trauma.

Ranma...

Honestly, Manami was scared to approach the boy and terrified of being caught in the act of tampering with his memories. He hadn't detected Akane's presence, so he wasn't likely to notice hers, either. Even if he remained totally oblivious to a veteran Shinigami, a being with far more spiritual density than the average Hollow, the kikanshiki was a wholly mystic device that made use of spirit particles both for power and effect. She couldn't light a beacon at point blank range and expect it not to be noticed.

To hell with it! The blame for this entire disgusting debacle fell solely on those whose unorthydox orders she'd followed. If they wanted to take further steps to ensure the status quo, let them send a specialist. Better yet, they could send someone capable of keeping themselves from being blasted from existance if their subject happened to be more aware than he let on.

xxxx

The strain of reaching Furinkan as quickly as he had made the trip left Happosai feeling all his years and more. It couldn't be helped, not with his prized student and living legacy generating such a massive spike of violently angry ki followed by a slightly longer-lived wave of what felt like an even larger, but emotionally blank surge of power. Though quick to anger, Ranma almost never grew enraged and his temper didn't wildly lash out without cause. Whatever provoked this reaction needed to be investigated.

A minute after arriving at the school, Happosai wished he'd overslept.

Faint traces of a destroyed Hollow still tainted the area and despite not being able to see it, he felt the presence of a Shinigami moving about, fiddling with young minds inadvertently exposed to the darker side of reality. Happosai had lost the ability to clearly see much of the spiritual world sometime about midway through his second century due to his own negligent mishandling of an odd mammary-shaped Amazon artifact he'd acquired through questionable means, and the ability had only continued to fade.

Of far more concern than the remnants of a monster, however, was the apparent trigger for Ranma's distress.

This will break Soun, Happosai realized with tears in his overlarge eyes. Emotional wounds barely scabbed over in the decade after his wife's death would be be torn open. The man just didn't have the kind of strength to weather the loss of his youngest daughter. Happosai wanted to go to Ranma, share a kind word and offer his condolensces, but he refrained. It didn't take a man of his years and training to see that Ranma was not currently in a receptive state of mind.

Oh, Akane-chan, you will be missed.

xxxx

"Hello, Akane."

The soft, solemn voice calling her name drew Akane's attention like a moth to an open flame. Her head snapped around and the annoying chain protruding from her chest rattled again. What was up with that anyway? Who ever heard of a ghost with a chain riveted to its sternum?

Akane was confronted by an odd sight. She met the gaze of an attractive brunette looking not much older than thirty, if that, dressed in black robes with a katana at her side. The woman smiled kindly.

"You can see me?" There was a small nod of acknowledgement. "Who are you? Are you a ghost, too?"

"My name is Manami and I am a Shinigami. I'm here to help you pass on to the afterlife."

Akane turned to regard the all but comatose Ranma once more, aware that she could not help him no matter how much she wished it.

"Good, I think I'm ready to move on." There was nothing left for her here. Maybe she'd be able to see her mother again on the other side.

xxxx

Ranma almost chose not to end the Soul of Ice. Almost. It was tempting, the idea of hiding behind that void of feeling. Not experiencing grief or anger or any other painful emotion would be a gift from the kami, but it would also be cowardice. Ranma Saotome was not a coward.

So he suffered. Anger. Regret. Self-recrimination. All that and more, each emotion gaining supremacy within Ranma's mind only to be supplanted by another in a never ending cycle. He blamed himself. If he'd been just a little faster or left the Tendo's earlier. He blamed Happosai. It was the training, squeezed into any available time, be it late at night or before the crack of dawn, that led to his tardiness. For a single gut wrenching instant, Ranma even blamed Akane. Would it have been so bad for her to be late for school?

And like a gaping wound in his mind, Ranma continued to feel Akane's presence. It hovered close by. He refused to give in to the nagging desire to look back, to check if maybe, just maybe, this was all some huge mistake and Akane wasn't really lying there before him, the life gone out of her. Even when his troubled mind conjured her voice, pleading for recognition, Ranma held himself immobile. If he let himself be weak now, where would it end? Akane wouldn't want him to end up like her father.

"Hello, Akane." A new voice intruded on Ranma's vigil, the first he'd heard since the obnoxious photographer and his brutal companion.

The seed of madness in his psyche filled in for Akane. "You can see me?" A pause. "Who are you? Are you a ghost, too?"

"My name is Manami and I am a Shinigami. I'm here to help you pass on to the afterlife."

Either he was further gone than he wished to believe or something else entirely was going on.

"Good, I think I'm ready to move on."

There was a note of finality in the figment's voice. Ranma couldn't say why he gave in to it now, when the figment appeared to have lost interest in driving him mad, but that didn't matter. It didn't matter at all, because he didn't find empty air when he looked for the voice. There was Akane, looking no different than she had as she ran out the gate that morning, with the sole exception of the heavy chain hanging from her chest nearly to the ground. The woman standing next to his fiance carried a katana and wore loose black robes. The Shinigami, Manami.

"It's actually you." At any other time Ranma would have hated the way his voice cracked. He couldn't bring himself to care at the moment.

xxxx

Kei winced, her heart going out to the kid. All things considered, he could be doing a lot worse than talking to himself. Still, she hoped the grief councillors had their act together.

xxxx

Author's Notes: Please read and review!


	4. Chapter 3

Title- A Hollowed Out Heart

Author- DrkPhnx

E-Mail- dark(underscore)phoneix(at)hotmail(dot)com. Stupid FF(dot)Net...jeeze.

Disclaimer- I almost literally own nothing, not to mention any series that may appear within this story. Please don't sue me!

Rating- PG-13

Pairing- None as of now

Spoilers- Through the end of Ranma 1/2. Not too sure about Bleach, as I've only seen the anime and the manga is so far ahead of it. Through the Soul Society arc at the very least.

xxxx

Chapter Three

xxxx

"It's actually you."

Manami froze before she could comment on Akane's wishes, her face paling noticeably. Ranma wasn't so oblivious afterall!

"Ranma...you jerk!" Akane suddenly shouted. The Shinigami's attention snapped back to the spirit. How on Earth had an immaterial spirit manifested a large wooden hammer like that?

"Here I am, dead, and you ignored me when I try to share my last moments with you!" With a grunt of anger and a rattling of chain, Akane leapt for her former fiance, prepared to teach him the error of his ways, yet again, by the most violent and expedient means available.

It was disconcerting to all involved, moreso to Ranma than the ladies, when the spirit girl and her spectral hammer passed through him without the slightest pause.

"Grrr! Ranma, stand still and take your punishment!" Swing, swing, lunging tackle, swing, kick to the shin, swing. None of the attacks missed, as Ranma didn't even attempt to dodge, yet all proved ineffective.

Before the situation could grow even stranger, Manami cleared her throat loudly, trying to draw the girl's otherwise focussed attention. Akane showed no sign of having heard her. Twice more the Shinigami attempted to distract the preoccupied girl from her task. Eventually, well over a minute after the tirade began and innumerable attacks on poor stunned Ranma, she lost patience and snapped,"Akane, you silly girl, calm down! You've got an opportunity so precious you couldn't imagine what most people would do in your place. Don't squander this chance to speak with your lover one last time!"

That got Akane's attention and Ranma's, too. She stopped in mid-swing and along with Ranma, flushed an embarassed pink, then they shouted in stereo, "We're not lovers!"

Manami shrugged, satisfied that she'd accomplished her goal. She was disappointed in Akane, but strictly in her capacity as a woman and not as a Shinigami. If she were engaged to a boy as well put together as Ranma, well, perhaps that train of thought was best left unexplored. "Whatever you say. Akane, Ranma, say your goodbyes. I'll leave you alone for as long as I dare. I would recommend somewhere with a little privacy, Ranma." She looked over Ranma's shoulder with a pointed sort of expression that led his gaze to a clump of emergency workers, all of whom were regarding him curiously.

"Ah...yeah...um," Ranma scratched the back of his head, brain still not quite back in proper gear after discovering Spirit Akane's existance.

Akane sighed, a little smile tugging at her lips. "Meet me behind the equipment shed near the gym, Ranma."

Relieved to have the decision taken out of his hands, you never could tell what would offend Akane, she may not have liked his janitor's closet idea, Ranma nodded gratefully.

Manami watched as an odd looked crossed Ranma's face. Suddenly there was some sort of compression and simultaneous dispersion of the boy's spirit energy. And then he was gone! The Shinigami could feel no sign of his presence whatsoever, not even a trace of movement indicative of Flash Step.

"Hmph!" Akane groused, not unkindly. "He's such a showoff sometimes. Leave it to Ranma to try to impress a Shinigami at a time like this."

Manami followed alongside Akane as she hurried to her rendezvous with Ranma. "What was that? Teleportation?" It wouldn't be a total shock, she thought. That realization alone was enough of a sign that she needed a drink.

"Not even close. I'm sure Ranma would want you to think that, though. It's just a stealth technique his father invented. The jerk never would teach it to me, either."

xxxx

Ranma paced back and forth, back and forth, waiting for Akane to arrive. What was taking her so long? It wasn't like she had to come very far! She was a ghost, couldn't she walk through walls and stuff? If that wouldn't shorten travel time, Ranma didn't know what would.

"Ranma..."

Finally. He turned to face his fiance's ghost. This was his chance. He could tell her how he felt, apologize for all the harsh words and the missed opportunities, say goodbye. "Akane, I-" Ranma stopped, suddenly unable to form words. His throat felt tight and his tongue thick and unresponsive. No way, he couldn't be at a loss for words now of all times! Normally he couldn't make his stupid mouth shut up. It was always saying stupid things getting him in trouble. The least it could do now was cooperate.

Akane laughed. "We're really something else, aren't we, Ranma?" she asked ruefully. Closing the distance between them, she tried to reach out and take his hand. It was a useless gesture, the spirit appendage passing through his flesh and blood one just as her earlier attempts at slightly more violent contact had.

Like a switch had been flipped that turned his brain back on, Ranma could speak again. "I'm so sorry, Akane. I should have been there to protect you." The martial arts prodigy turned his attention to his feet, too ashamed to look Akane in the eye. "If I had been on time, like I promised mom, you'd be safe now, not..." The tightness returned. He couldn't say the word.

"Dead?" Akane volunteered softly. He nodded miserably. "Ranma, you big dope, listen to me right now. This wasn't your fault. Not one little bit. You couldn't protect me from something coming out of the ground like that. If you'd been there earlier, you would have had to watch me die." Akane paused, letting it sink in. "I'm glad you didn't have to see that, Ranma."

"I shoulda been there," he muttered. "It's my job to keep you safe."

The spirit sighed, her frustration evident. "Ranma, if it weren't for you keeping me safe, I'd be dead already. Or some psycho's sex slave. Or a dead former sex slave. Anyway, you get the idea. At least you better!"

"You wouldn't be anybody's slave, you violent tomboy. They'd a brought you back in a month and paid your dad to keep you away from 'em." For a few seconds Ranma seemed back to his old self, then his eyes widened as he realized what his damned mouth had said, and he clamped his hands over it before he could swallow more of his foot.

"Idiot," Akane said, smiling up at the boy fondly. She ached to reach out and touch him despite her earlier failures.

A look of resolve came over Ranma's features without warning, his back straightened and his eyes glinted with determination. Akane took a deep, superfluous breath at the sight. Kami-sama, he was so hot when he looked like that. More than once she'd seen this transformation overcome her fiance and it never failed to excite and disturb her, no matter the situation or anger she may have felt towards him at the time. For the longest time Akane had tried to ignore what it did to her, how it made parts of her grow heated or damp, even when he was a "she". Nothing would come of that now, she thought sadly.

"I'm gonna mess this up, probably, not being real good with words and all," Ranma stated, almost more to himself than to Akane. "I want you to know I'm sorry for all the mean stuff I've said about you. You're not uncute. You're cute, no, that's not right. Akane, I think you're beautiful!"

Ranma's cheeks flushed at his confession, but continued after a few moment's pause. "Even if the stuff I said was true, I'm still sorry about hurting your feelings. You're a tomboy, for sure. I liked that about you, Akane. Why would I want some girly girl when I could have a tomboy like you?" Akane's face brightened. "You couldn't cook worth a damn, but you tried so hard because you cared. Even terrified or in agony because of it, I still appreciated the effort."

Yeah, that's true, Akane thought. Mostly. She had to admit to herself that there was a lot of selfish desire to prove herself better than the other fiances and their culinary expertise. No point in telling Ranma that, though. If she broke his momentum now, chances were he'd never manage to get started again.

The fierce determination painting Ranma's features sharpened, a frown of concentration furrowing his brow. Akane felt a gentle pressure eminating from Ranma, the first purely physical sensation she'd experienced since dying. Her fiance's battle aura had made an appearance. The golden fire, shot through with swirls and streamers of pink, clung to Ranma like a second skin, condensing more tightly around him than she'd ever seen before.

Satisfied with his effort, Ranma closed the short distance between himself and Akane. To Akane's amazement and his triumph, he was able to caress her cheek. The spirit girl leaned into the touch, already a bit hungry for physical contact after only a short time as a ghost, but far more strongly starved for Ranma's touch. Her face tingled and her eyes slipped shut as she sighed in pleasure. They popped open again as Ranma embraced her tightly, holding her much smaller frame to his.

Before Akane could speak, Ranma had one more proclamation to make.

"Akane," he whispered,"I l-love you."

The spirit girl sniffled and her vision blurred as spectral tears welled up. "Oh, Ranma, I love you, too."

xxxx

Manami dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. Such a touching moment.

"Ranma's a good boy. He's got all kinds of rough edges, but that just gives him more character, I say."

The Shinigami, startled at from her interrupted voyeurism, found that she'd been joined by a short...thing. Human? If so, this had to be the most shrivelled, shrunken person she'd ever seen.

"I wish I could figure out what he's doing with his ki," the creature continued. It turned to look at her. "Hi there, pretty Shinigami lady! Don't worry, I know I shouldn't be able to see you. Whatever Ranma's doing with his ki that's letting him touch Akane is casting some sort of spiritual shadow over the area. It's letting me see a pretty good outline of you girls."

"Who are you?" Manami finally asked.

Reading the woman's lips, he responded. "The name's Happosai, hot stuff, and I'm Ranma's many many times removed grandfather. He's a chip off the old block. I bet that Hollow didn't know what hit it." Happosai chuckled darkly. His expression turned into a leer. "You know, those robes don't do your figure justice at all."

"Pervert," the Shinigami hissed quietly, not wishing to disturb Ranma and Akane's visit.

"And proud of it!"

xxxx

"I'm ready, Manami."

Drawing her sword, the Shinigami prepared to perform the soul burial ritual.

Akane exchanged a final smile with Ranma and looked away, wishing they'd had more time together.

xxxx

Author's Notes: Did I handle that well enough? I've never been able to write this sort of stuff very well.


	5. Chapter 4

xxxx

A Hollowed Out Heart: Chapter Four

xxxx

"I know what you're thinking, boy," Happosai volunteered.

"Huh?" Ranma grunted absentmindedly, his attention focused elsewhere. 'Elsewhere' just happened to be under a nearby shade tree where Akane's spirit and the Shinigami stood. The black-robed woman had drawn her sword and was speaking quietly with his former fiance. Without the shadows cast by his aura, the aged martial artist could only sense their presence.

"There's still time to stop the ritual. You can see Akane, hear her voice, talk to her. You can even touch her, if you want." Happosai still hadn't worked out for himself how Ranma altered his aura to interact beningly with Akane's spirit. It could very well be an ability unique to the boy or the product of his instinctive and growing grasp of ki manipulation.

Ranma didn't respond. Happosai detected the slight shift in posture and felt the inner turmoil within the boy's aura grow. He didn't need to be a mind reader to confirm his assumptions. "The Shinigami is armed, of course, but you can sense as well as I that her skill and power are inferior to your own. How difficult would it be to stop this?"

Ranma cocked his head to the side just enough to observe Happosai out of the corner of his eye.

"Well, you get those thoughts right out of your head!" His voice wasn't raised and his tone remained surprisingly friendly, yet Happosai seemed very vehement at the moment. "You saw the broken chain. That's Akane's Chain of Fate. As far as I know, it cannot be repaired once detached from its anchor."

"So?"

"I don't claim to be an expert on the subject, but one learns a thing or two over a life as long as mine. A broken Chain of Fate rapidly corrodes. When a spirit loses its Chain entirely it becomes a Hollow." A nice dramatic pause, coincidentally coming just as the Shinigami raised the hilt of her soul slayer to the kneeling Akane's brow. "It was a Hollow that killed Akane today, Ranma."

Startling as the revelation proved to be, the subject of forcing Akane to remain as a ghost then became moot. She was gone. Forever.

xxxx

"Where have you been, man?"

Ranma looked up at the speaker. He hadn't been in much of a hurry to leave the site of Akane's final departure. Trudging back towards school, head down and hands buried in his pockets, Daisuke's approach went totally unnoticed.

"I needed some time to think," came the terse reply.

Daisuke did his best to nod sympathetically, totally lacking the emotional experience to relate to whatever Ranma was feeling. "I thought it was something like that. Everyone's been sent home until they make sure there aren't any more gas pockets, but your mom's had me and Hiroshi looking for you for a while."

Without further conversation, Ranma followed the other boy to the guidance counselor's office. Gas pockets? The Shinigami woman had briefly explained that she'd done something to change everyone's memory of the attack. No one but himself and Kuno would remember what really happened, so there would be no eye witnesses to say otherwise, but gas pockets? This was Nerima, afterall. Someone should have been able to come up with a more plausible explanation than that.

xxxx

Hours later the Saotome family and remaining Tendo girls had not left Nerima General. Soun Tendo was still in surgery, precariously clinging to life after a botched ritual suicide attempt. He had not taken the news of his youngest daughter's demise well. While Nodoka attempted to comfort the remaining Tendo girls, a monumental task, Ranma and Genma quietly slipped to the roof, ignoring the locks and posted warnings against such trespass.

"What can you tell me about this morning, son?" asked a very subdued Genma. In the span of a single morning, he had learned of the death of his son's fiance, the end of a dream spanning two decades, and worst of all, had stumbled upon a dying Soun Tendo, the man lying in an enormous pool of his own blood and viscera.

A minute passed in silence before Ranma began to explain the events as best as he knew them. He left little from his story, for his father would be able to ferret out any untruth or glaring omission, but he did not elaborate on his final exhange with Akane.

"During our years with the Master, Soun and I encountered a handful of these Hollow creatures, though he never explained their origin or purpose. The Master could not see them for reasons he never shared, but he taught us how to detect many spirits in the course of our travels."

"How come you never told me anything about them, old man?"

Genma shrugged. "There was no need. It's been twenty years since I've last heard tale of a Hollow. We never stayed in large cities for very long on our training journey, you know. If I had to guess, I say the Hollows are attracted to large groups of people. More food that way."

Ranma sighed morosely. "Not like it would have done much good. Akane was already gone by the time I fought it and it was easy enough to finish the bastard off."

"I'll tell you the same thing the Master told us, son," said Genma, getting an uncomfortable hunch that his son was thinking of doing something stupid. "Never go looking for a Hollow. They belong to a world apart from our own, but their attention can all to easily turned toward us, especially to those with great quantities of ki. Just like the largest pickle draws the eye, so to does the largest aura." Leave it to Genma Saotome to use a food analogy when talking about dangerous supernatural predators.

"If that's how it works, they shoulda been all over Nerima months ago."

"It would seem that way," the older man agreed. "Keep in mind that the Master is a martial artist and not a mystic. His knowledge in this area is limited. There could be other factors involved that we know nothing about."

xxxx

There really were not many ways to live past your three hundredth birthday without looking less than fresh, not when the springtime of youth was so far in the past. When Happosai found Cologne, the little old Amazon Elder resembled nothing so much as a mummified garden gnome. If her apparent physical deteoration wasn't enough, her aura was seriously depleted to a near dangerous level. Happosai would have been more concerned about the woman if he didn't know how much resilience her tribe's particular brand of ki-magic added to the Elders with enough proficiency to master it.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, Happi?" Cologne's dry voice rasped. She brought a small cup of herbal tea to her lips and sipped slowly.

"Can't an old friend stop by to visit without needing a reason?" Cologne just stared pointedly. "Fine, be that way," Happosai mock-pouted. "Once I felt your wards settle into place, I realized they had been inactive for several hours earlier. You know I'm not too sensitive to your Amazon mumbo jumbo." His nose twitched at the aroma of whatever vile blend Cologne continued to sip. Surely some restorative concoction of Amazon origin.

"You're quite correct. Last night there was a highly unusual surge in this city's paltry excuse for a ley line network that damaged my spirit wards enough to allow them to unravel." Cologne's annoyance was evident. "I've never been satisfied with the protections I could erect in this urban monstrosity. Too many self absorbed people, too much moving metal, and enough electricity to degrade any truly significant ward in days."

Happosai didn't wish to further burden the Amazon, but felt she'd rather know than remain ignorant. "A Hollow slipped into the area while you were re-establishing the wards."

Cologne's already bulging eyes widened. "Oh no, was anyone harmed before you could deal with it? Wait, how could you have fought it? I recall you had a most unfortunate episode with Hecate's Tits last century."

Seriously, how could they name a magic artifact something like that and expect him not to at least be a little curious. "I didn't arrive until after Ranma obliterated it." It seemed almost cruel to continue after seeing Cologne sigh in relief. "After it killed Akane."

"Damn," whispered the woman as she lowered her cup. It clattered noisily as her shaking hand set it down. "What are the odds of this happening naturally, Happi? The Tainted aren't so common that one should happen along in the time it took to re-power the wards. And to target the Tendo girl? This smacks of unnatural interference." Withered or not, Cologne looked quite fierce just then. It reminded Happosai of a time long, long ago.

"I didn't want to mention anything while the Shinigami was around, then the wards drew my attention. It seemed like some investigation was needed before sending Ranma off half cocked with a chip on his shoulder. He's not ready for the kind of trouble he could attract."

"No one is ever ready for the kind of trouble that boy attracts, him most of all. Tell me everything that's happened, Happi. Leave nothing out, no matter how insignificant it seems."

xxxx

Cologne didn't have the energy to use her staff as a means of locomtion after escorting Happosai to the door. The world weighed heavily on her tiny stooped shoulders.

She'd failed in her self-appointed duty, as the only one with the necessary skill and power, to protect this place from such malevolent spiritual influence while she resided Nerima. That failure was directly responsible for the death of an innocent girl. Worse, said girl was Akane Tendo. Ranma's affection for the girl had grown more obvious as time passed, up until the point where it had only become a matter of 'when' they would join, not 'if'. Cologne's feelings of guilt only increased as she contemplated how much of a hurdle the day's events placed before Shampoo in her attempt to win Ranma for herself. This was not the time to be having such thoughts.

Still, if Happosai's retelling was accurate, Ranma's parting with Akane's spirit had been a significant emotional experience. There were ancient Amazon tragedies, stories of lost love passed down through the generations, that couldn't hold a candle to what she'd just learned. Shampoo, over eager and immature girl that she'd not yet grown out of being, was bound to do something stupid very soon, make some foolish statement, or worse, that would only serve to alienate her from Ranma. The only consolation, if it could even be considered one, was that the other girls chasing Ranma were just as likely as Shampoo to shoot themselves in the metaphorical foot. If Shampoo couldn't have an advantage, at least she would be on equal footing with the competition.

More important than her grand-daughter's love life, however, was the recovery of the energies she'd expended in so rapidly raising the spirit wards. Those wards served a specific purpose, barring minor spirits and demons from the area entirely and discouraging more powerful entities most harshly. Throughout its long history, the Amazon nation had learned the abilities that made them so powerful, not so much their physical prowess, but the great ki-magic developed over millenia of trial and error, also attracted certain types of supernatural predators who fed on those same energies. Whenever those with great spiritual power stayed in place for very long or gathered in large numbers, it was only a matter of time until something attempted to make a meal of them.

There were only a few really powerful residents of Nerima, but to Cologne's amazement, the city was full of people with abnormally high levels of ki. A fortuitous confluence of weak but well placed ley lines and certain mineral deposits did much to hide the city's virtual human buffet. Just as unfortunate, however, was the unescapable truth that so long as individuals like herself and Happosai and the Saotome men lived here, along with the short visits of the never ending string of powerful challengers, the masking effect of Nerima's supernatural geography was compromised. Thus the spirit wards.

Once she recovered adequately, Cologne had to discover if her wards had been purposely damaged, and if so, by whom.

xxxx

Author's Notes: Another short chapter, I know, but I'm trying to get back to writing slightly larger pieces. Please have patience. Time will start moving more quickly within the fic some time soon and I hope to have more interaction with Bleach before long.


	6. Chapter 5

xxxx

A Hollowed Out Heart: Chapter Five

xxxx

"The Old Pervert says you know a lot more about Hollows and stuff like that than he does," Ranma said, forgoing a greeting. He'd slipped into the Nekohanten through the back entrance to find Cologne busying herself in the restaurant's kitchen.

Sitting atop her gnarled wooden staff, the ancient Amazon stirred a pot of soup stock large enough to fit her small frame twice over. "Good afternoon to you, too, Son-in-law," she responded.

"Yeah, hey yourself, Old Ghoul."

THUMP

"Ow!" Rubbing his suddenly aching head, Ranma glared at his attacker. He'd seen Cologne move, but his body simply wasn't fast enough to respond with so little warning.

Ignoring the rude young man, Cologne went back to tending the soup. She refused to acknowledge his presence for several minutes until, finally, she heard a reluctant and mumbled apology. "Sorry."

"We'll have you civilized within a decade at this rate, Son-in-law." Deftly adjusting the flame beneath the pot with the tip of her staff, nevermind that she was supposed to be using it as a makeshift booster seat, Cologne placed a lid on it and turned her full attention to the tactless teenager.

"Hollows?" Ranma prompted.

"Oh, yes. Hollows. As Happi so helpfully pointed out to you, Son-in-law, I am far more knowledgable on the subject than he is. It should come as no surprise that I'm equally well informed on a great many more subjects than your Master. What would you like to know about them?"

Ranma nodded, seeing no reason to dispute Cologne's claim. He didn't feel like hearing more about three thousand years of Amazon history.

"Everything. I want to know how long it takes one to form, where they go when they're not killing people, their strengths, weaknesses; everything." Warming to his subject, Ranma continued. "If you people have any special techniques to use against Hollows, I want to learn it."

It appeared as if Happosai had been spot on with his assessment of Ranma's course of action. Cologne grimaced internally at the thought of trying to deter the incredibly stubborn young man. Leave that to his parents and Happosai. For now, she would cooperate. At least he was more likely to survive if she helped to relieve his ignorance. Still, it wouldn't do to make it too easy on him. "And what will you give in trade for such information? What you so cavalierly demand has taken my people millenia to amass. We can always use another pretty waitress during the rush hou-"

A loud and incredulous snort from Ranma interrupted the Amazon. "I ain't got time to play eye candy for a bunch of horny business men and perverted boys. Between school and training, I barely have time to sleep." He paused, stormy blue eyes going hard and gray. "Why is it that you want me to go back with Shampoo to China? To add new, powerful blood to your tribe? Well, you give me what I want, really teach me what you know, about Hollows, the spirit world, special techniques, all that, and while you're training me I'll knock up however many Amazons you can find. How's that for payment?"

Cologne very rarely found herself stupefied into insensibility. She'd seen and done too much in her life to be shocked by all but the most incredible events. Ranma offering to serve stud in exchange for knowledge...the moon may as well have split in two to hatch a giant space chicken. Overcome, Cologne fell from her staff and laid on the kitchen floor, twitching spasmodically.

Ranma had expected a reaction, but this was a little extreme, even for him.

Some minutes later, just when Ranma was beginning to wonder if he should seek assistance, Cologne appeared to regain her composure. He sighed in relief and stared down at the geriatric Amazon.

"We got a deal?"

Cologne took a deep cleansing breath and retrieved her fallen staff. "On behalf of the Joketsuzoku, as Elder and Matriarch, I accept your terms," she agreed somewhat hurriedly, before Ranma could change his mind. Whether Ranma knew it or not, he'd just committed himself to a significant period of training and study. Cologne, as she claimed, held a vast store of esoteric knowledge and and an amazing array of techniques, from the powerful to the innocuous, within her shrunken monkey-like head. If she could keep him occupied long enough, drill enough caution and forethought into his thick skull, Ranma just might survive whatever he was planning. And, purely as a secondary benefit, introduce a prestigious new bloodline into the tribe.

"Good. I've got a few hours before mom expects me home for dinner and the Old Freak had an appointment..."

"Shampoo should return from her latest delivery run shortly."

Ranma's eyes widened. "What? You mean now?" He hadn't expected to be required to begin fulfilling his end of the bargain so soon.

"Son-in-law, someone must remain here to mind the kitchen and attend to customers while we are otherwise occupied." Cologne clucked her tongue disapprovingly. "My granddaughter, of all people, will not be enthusiastic to learn of our arrangement. She is too young by the laws of our people to bear a child and will be for some years to come."

That was a relief. Sort of. Ranma had not been looking forward to being with Shampoo, afraid to encourage the eager Amazon girl when her affection would never be returned. Of course, it could all backfire and convince her to try even harder in hopes of overshadowing her fellow Amazons. Whatever. He'd deal with the consequences of his deal with Cologne when they stared him in the face.

xxxx

"Your test results are quite promising, Master Happosai." Tofu Ono was grateful for the distraction of the aged martial artist's visit. He'd been fretting about how he'd manage to control his embarrassing tendencies around Kasumi at Akane's upcoming funeral and he wasn't entirely certain he would be able to avoid making a fool of himself.

"That's better news than you can imagine, doc." Now more than ever, Happosai felt a pressing urgency to pass on to Ranma anything of use he could scrounge from his overripe brain. "I've been doing a lot of internal work, rearranging ki flows and such, in hopes of bolstering my body for a while longer." His body may be failing him, but his ki was as strong as ever.

"When you have the time I'd love to learn more of your methods, Master Happosai. The detereoration has slowed dramatically, so much so that I'd like to try cutting back your dosages on some of the more powerful medications I've prescribed you."

Happosai couldn't bring himself to complain about that. There were several unfortunate side-effects associated with some of the drugs he was currently taking to extend what remained of his life. Maybe they could dial back his dosage on whichever compound it was that had gutted his sex drive.

xxxx

Akane's funeral was a subdued affair with none of the usual antics one would expect from a gathering of many of the Nerimians in attendance. It appeared as if most of the Furinkan student population had turned out, crowding every nearby space in the cemetary. Even Kuno made an appearance. The heavily injured kendoist used his loyal retainer Sasuke as a crutch and walked gingerly, still far from healed after his short confrontation with the Hollow.

Throughout the ceremony, Ranma was in his own little world. He had not wished to attend the funeral, but his mother insisted. When Nodoka Saotome insists in that tone of voice, it may as well be a command from Kami-sama himself for all the wiggle room it allowed. So here he was, only a few feet from Akane's decaying corpse. The pressure of hundreds of eyes on him had Ranma shifting nervously, the fine hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.

This grotesque parody of a farewell was not how Ranma wanted to remember Akane. That was reserved for their final moments with one another, him a flesh and blood living boy and her a soon to be departed spirit, when they'd finally confessed their feelings.

Nodoka brooked no argument. Soun Tendo was unable to attend, not even having regained consciousness, thus Akane would have as many loved ones here as possible to make up for her father's absence. That was Nodoka-logic for you.

xxxx

"Ranchan!" Ukyo called.

Damn, Ranma cursed. She'd been trying to catch his attention throughout the whole morbid gathering. If only his bastard father wasn't so eager to return home to stuff his fat face, Ranma could have hidden behind the much larger man's bulk and maybe avoided notice. This wasn't a confrontation he'd been looking forward to. Ukyo was his oldest friend, but she was also one of the remaining fiances. He really, really hoped she didn't try to press him for a date or something.

Ranma broke away from his parents and the Tendo girls to speak with the chef. "Go on, I'll catch up later."

Ukyo, Ranma saw, had foregone her masculine attire and carried none of her combat utensils, at least not obviously. There were likely several throwing spatulas tucked out of sight, but he couldn't blame her for that. Even at a funeral, this was Nerima. The simple black dress his fiance wore didn't do much to accentuate her figure, but there was no doubts about her feminity, either.

"Heya, Ucchan," said Ranma as Ukyo approached. He spotted a nearby bench, directing the girl toward it with a glance.

Ukyo settled down beside him and said,"You've been avoiding me, you jackass."

Ranma sighed and picked at a splinter, not quite sure how to proceed. "Look, Ucchan, the last few days have really sucked, okay? A lot's been going on and I didn't want to have to deal with more crap right now."

Ukyo thumped her fiance lightly on the side of the head. "Akane was my friend, too, you idiot!" she hissed. "I can't believe you'd think so little of me, to what, expect me to make a move on you at a time like this? Boys are stupid, but you take the cake, Ranchan."

"Oh." Like this would be the first time Ranma was completely wrong in his assumptions about female behavior.

"'Oh', he says," Ukyo grumbled. "Listen, jackass, if you need someone to talk to, you know where to find me." Ukyo departed in a swirl of black fabric before Ranma could apologize, leaping over the cemetary wall and disappearing from sight.

Besides feeling like an idiot, Ranma thought that had gone pretty well. He didn't have much reason to expect Shampoo to be so gracious, especially after she learned of his and Cologne's arrangement, and just thinking about Kodachi Kuno made his skin crawl.

xxxx

"I bow before the Master, may he bless me with his greatness!"

"Will you stop that already?" Ranma demanded, wishing he'd never told Happosai that Cologne was going to train him. Of course, that had led into why she was going to pass on so much Amazon lore, and Ranma being Ranma, only thought twice about telling the truth after he'd already spilled the beans.

It was raining, a condition Ranma had been waiting for to learn some special technique the freak wanted to teach him, and he didn't wish to remain in his female form any longer than neccessary. No telling when Happosai's perversion would return. Ranma felt like he was tempting fate, or at least tempting the Old Freak, by having him this close to a pair of breasts.

"Can I rub your bosom for good luck?

Just great...

"Listen, you perv, if you can't be serious I'll just go hang out with Cologne. She probably knows this stupid technique of your anyway."

The change wasn't quite instant, but Happosai did seem to pull himself together with suspicious ease. "You're no fun at all sometimes, Ranma m'girl." He gestured with his little bamboo umbrella. "Just you wait. You've never had an Amazon lover before. Ha, I once only had a passing interest in women, if you can imagine that. Cologne-chain changed all that."

A moment passed while Ranma processed what he'd just learned. Then the mental pictures began to form. The boy turned girl screamed once, clutched his head in agony, and sunk to the rain soaked grass below. The horror, oh Kami-sama, the horror. Make the pain stop.

Ignoring his student's mental anguish, Happosai began to explain the purpose of the day's lesson. "A rainy day isn't absolutely required for what I want to teach you today, it will just make the first steps much easier. We haven't fined your aura control down to where it needs to be to actually use this technique, but I can think of few exercises as effective as this one to teach you that control."

xxxx

Author's Notes: Yeah, that's right, Ranma's gonna man-whore himself out to the Amazons in exchange for knowledge and power! He's in a strange state of mind right now, desperately wishing to avenge Akane beyond the elimination of a single Hollow, but with no apparent outlet for his desire. Ranma, clueless as always, did not realize how easily Cologne could have been convinced to seriously train him.

So far Cologne has been wrong with her predictions of fiance screw ups. That's Ukyo 1, Cologne 0. What do you think the chances are of continued good luck for Ranma?


	7. Chapter 6

xxxx

A Hollowed Out Heart: Chapter Six

xxxx

Ranma's hands, scarred and callussed by over a decade of rigorous martial arts training, had the strength to rend steel, not to mention mere flesh and bone. Tonight, they had done all that and more.

Face set in a rigid mask of blankness, Ranma continued to hold his arms beneath the scalding hot water, scrubbing harshly with one of his mother's stiff bristled cleaning brushes. The blood that had painted his arms dark red from elbow to fingertip was long gone, but he continued to rub the caustic detergent into his skin, now quite red itself.

The Soul of Ice would have been a convenient retreat if it didn't freeze the steaming water before it could reach his skin. Without water the blood could not be washed away, however.

"Son, you must stop this at once!" demanded Nodoka. She stormed into the bathroom, hair askew and dressing gown doing a poor job of hiding her otherwise unclad form. "You are going to do yourself harm."

"I've just gotta...get the blood off," Ranma muttered, more to himself than his mother.

Nodoka tried to pull her son away from the sink, but the effort was futile. She may as well have attempted to convince Genma to go on a diet. Turning to the large figure now filling the doorway, she pleaded,"Genma, do something."

Genma Saotome, despite his unhealthy habits and general laziness, remained a formidable martial artist. It proved to be a simple matter to quietly slip up behind his preoccupied son and deliver a sharp, powerful chop to the back of his neck. He caught Ranma's unconscious body before the boy could bang his head on the sharp edge of the pink-stained ceramic sink.

xxxx

Ranma woke to an unfamiliar ceiling and a pounding headache. He'd just grown accustommed to his bedroom and now he was in a new one?

The events of the night before came crashing back with eye-watering alacrity.

An image of Kodachi Kuno formed in his mind, her sultry face with its seductive smile suddenly showing anguish, languid eyes opening wide as she screamed, announcing her agony to the world.

His hand, already wet with the disturbed gymnast's blood, clasped tightly around her throat in an effort to silence her.

A wrist protruding from the girl's leatherclad abdomen...Where was his hand? Oh...

Surging to his feet, Ranma looked around for signs of a struggle, blood, bits of torn flesh, discarded weapons. Finding none, he stalked from the room without noticing his lack of clothing, now recognized as his mother's guest bedroom, to seek one or both of his parents. Had he killed Kodachi? It was easy to remember the attempted seduction, her cruel words about Akane, the gloating. She'd dosed him with something while he slept. Whatever the combination of chemicals, it left him simultaneously lethargic and achingly aroused.

Ranma found it hard to believe he had so calmly reached out, through the heaviness of the drugs, and snapped Kodachi's arm, the glistening white bone appearing as if by magic from her perfect pale flesh. Something in the girl's neck gave way under the pressure of his grip. No more screaming, even as his fingers mingled with slick, squirming intestines and firmer chunks that were internal organs.

Abruptly, Ranma changed his destination, disappearing in a blur of superhuman speed to appear in the bathroom an instant later. It was here that his mother found him.

Nodoka held her son's pigtail out of the toilet bowl as he emptied his stomach and rocked him without comment as he sobbed. This was the first time he had cried since losing Akane.

xxxx

"You're not in trouble, Ranma," Nodoka answered a short while later. Her son had regained his composure, embarrassedly apolgized for his behavior, only to fall into sullen silence.

Ranma grunted in response.

"The stupid girl didn't just drug you, son. She attempted to film her...conquest. It was a most disturbing film. The detective I spoke with assures me that you will not be held accountable for defending yourself, even if you did respond so strongly."

"I killed her, mom."

"Don't be silly, son. Kodachi Kuno isn't dead. Gravely wounded, but alive."

More than a little amazed, Ranma's incredulous look met his mother's firm gaze.

"I must admit, at first glance she did appear to have succumbed to her injuries, but the girl, deranged as she may be, is remarkably resilient."

Convinced of Nodoka's honesty, tension bled away from his frame in a nearly tangible wave of relief. Though he despised Kodachi as much as he believed he could any person, especially after last night, Ranma did not want her dead. At least not by his own hand.

xxxx

"Won't your mother be upset if she finds you've skipped school, Son-in-law?" Cologne asked. She'd been enjoying a quite cup of tea when the approach of Ranma's unmistakable aura drew her attention. He was very agitated. Yet another reason to be grateful Shampoo's remedial Japanese language class at the Nerima Community Center kept her occupied at this time of day.

Ranma took a seat across from the Amazon and answered,"Nah, not today. Mom told me to take a walk to clear my mind. I'd rather make the most of the time, though, if you don't mind?"

"Very well, Son-in-law. Before we return to our previous discussion, however, perhaps you would like to share with me what has you so distraught?"

His shrug was not so nonchalant as he wished. "Kodachi Kuno paid me a visit last night."

"Ah, the unofficial fourth fiance. I assume she was not welcomed with open arms?" prompted Cologne, knowing the question irrelevant.

Ranma laughed once, almost a sharp bark, not really amused at all. "I gutted her. I didn't mean to, but she injected me with something that messed up my depth perception and made it real hard to control my strength. Mom says they got her to the hospital before she bled to death."

Outwardly, Cologne appeared unperturbed. It would not do to allow Ranma to see how shocked she was by his confession. Had she not expressly forbidden Shampoo from contact with Ranma until she said otherwise, Cologne knew it could be her granddaughter in Kodachi's place. Shampoo was not above using mind altering substances in her quest for Ranma and her reaction to Akane's forcible removal as competition had been positively gleeful.

"I cannot fault your reaction, not under those circumstances, and I doubt any other sane individual would, Son-in-law. Why let this upset you so?"

Pale-faced, Ranma answered,"Because, you shrivelled mummy, I enjoyed hurting her. I wanted her to suffer and die. It was exhilarating! If I can feel like that, how am I better than a Hollow? What right do I have to hunt them down if I'm no better than they are?"

"I could go into great detail expounding your virtues, Son-in-law. Instead, I want you to consider this: While the Tainted may take great pleasure in the suffering of others, would they ever feel remorse for doing so?"

xxxx

With a thoroughly disgruntled Mousse minding the restaurant by himself, Cologne led Ranma to her meditation chamber. It was here that she shared not only her knowledge of Hollows, or Tainted as she called them, the spirit world and its denizens, or major historical interactions between the Joketsuzoku and various factions of the spirit realms, but also taught him magic. Amazon ki-magic was not a thing of incantations and strange ingredients, focussing wholly on the application of specific patterns to ki through willpower alone.

"This is going to take forever," Ranma complained loudly after being blown halfway across the room by an improperly worked knot of ki Cologne insisted he create. Until he could do this simple exercise, she would share nothing but information with him. "Simple" was a relative term, he was discovering.

"Hardly, Son-in-law. At your rate of progress, no more than a month. Quite an impressive feat, I assure you."

"A month?" he cried. "This isn't even a useful technique and you expect me to waste a month on it?"

"Were you able to leap to the top of a building or crush a boulder with your bare hands on the first day your father began instructing you in the martial arts?"

Ranma did not answer, but turned his attention back to the palm of his hand and began to concentrate. As the writhing globule of ki formed, Cologne resumed speaking. "What you plan, Son-in-law, this vendetta you are preparing yourself to pursue, will earn you the emnity of powerful beings. You must not shy away from any instruction that may allow you to survive the wrath you will encure. More importantly, you must be able to protect those around you. Do you wish to share responsibility for the deaths of the innocent people who will die as collateral damage as your enemies seek you out? If so, we can skip these lessons entirely and forget about creating wards."

The answer to Cologne's question was a deepening of Ranma's furrowed brow along with a noticeable expansion and intensification of the mass of ki hovering between his cupped hands.

xxxx

Ranma entered the grounds of Furinkan High School in a bad mood. Truthfully, he didn't often come to school in a good mood. Being forced to return to the scene of Akane's death on a daily basis would be enough to sour his mood for the day. On top of that, however, was that he was currently soaked to the bone and female. The much longer trip from his mother's home to Furinkan didn't just mean that he had to leave for school earlier, thus requiring that he wake earlier, it also provided more opportunity for water to find him. It was inevitable that no matter how much of Ranma's attention was focussed on avoiding water, it would eventually find him.

Where normally the sight of his painfully large breasts plastered with wet silk would draw the eye of nearly every nearby boy like a perverted magnet and dagger-like glares from the less well endowed girls, virtually all females in the school, this morning was different. Clusters of students would steal quick glances at him, turn away, and whisper quickly to one another. Ranma liked being the center of attention, even as a girl. Somehow, the attention he was now receiving only made him uncomfortable.

By lunchtime the whispers had grown to a near constant background hum. Each time the irritation grew unbearable, Ranma would attempt to confront those he "knew" were talking about him, but they would clam up and refuse to look him in the eye. Though he had a pretty good idea of what everyone was talking about, Ranma was tempted to seek out Nabiki and buy the information from her. It would be a good excuse to see the girl again, too. He hadn't spoken with her even once in the weeks since Akane's funeral. Even if she was bitchy, it would be a welcome change.

"Hold, sorcerous fiend!" Thunder crashed despite the clear blue sky.

Wonderful.

Facing Kuno, Ranma sized up his soon to be opponent. While the sword swinging fool had recovered from the majority of the wounds received during his confrontation with the Hollow, it was obvious he still greatly favored his left side.

"For your vile assault upon my twisted sister, my blade shall be sheathed within your black heart, Saotome!" Kuno held his katana in a white-knuckled grip.

"Assault?" Ranma scoffed. "Your psychotic sister tried to rape me, you dumbass. The cops even have the video she tried to make. Assault? No, more like self defense."

"Lies!"

"Whatever, man. I don't care if you believe me or not. Just go away so I can eat my lunch in peace." One of the few bright points of Ranma's school day was the time he got to spend inhaling the generously-sized bento his mother prepared for him daily.

Forgoing further ranting, Kuno charged, a wordless bellow of rage preceding his attack.

Ranma could have responded in a physical manner. In fact, he would have enjoyed doing just that. There was something oddly soothing about beating Tatewaki Kuno into oblivion. Today, so soon after decimating another Kuno's flesh with his bare hands, he didn't think it would be so enjoyable. Ranma decided to show mercy.

Tightly constrained, moreso than ever thanks to instruction from both Happosai and Cologne, Ranma's aura was hidden from all but the most sensitive individuals. It was, they insisted, a skill critical to his survival. Now he chose to remove those mental constraints, opening a channel for his ki to spill forth into the open air. Contrary to its regular behaviour, the newly manifested battle aura remained invisible to the naked eye, the unadulterated spiritual energy invisible to mundane observers. Kuno could possibly see the upwelling of power, he had been able to see the Hollow afterall, but he could do nothing to avoid it as a spectral dragon of unseen ki swept over him.

To eagerly observing students, Kuno appeared to halt in mid-step, stumble, then fall to his knees. The older boy struggled frantically to stand against some unseen force.

Holding Kuno down with the sheer pressure of his ki, Ranma closed the distance between himself and his assailant. Once close enough to squat down next to Kuno, Ranma whispered,"Kuno, you really need to see Kodachi's tape. For Akane's sake. I don't think I woulda hurt your sister if she hand't run her mouth about Akane so much. Now I'm gonna go find a spot to eat my lunch. When I let you up, don't attack me or I swear on Akane's grave I'll put you back in the hospital."

Ranma did as he claimed he would and found a nearby bit of shade to enjoy his meal. Once comfortable, he reigned in his ki, drawing it back into his body and sealing it tightly behind a barrier of will. Kuno was slow to rise and glared menacingly at Ranma as he did so. Whether he somehow developed enough common sense to go along with Ranma's suggestion or if the planets were in some peculiar alignment, whatever the reason, he said not another word. He was gone from the school grounds within minutes.

xxxx

Author's Notes: Ukyo 1, Cologne 1, Kodachi -1


	8. Chapter 7

xxxx

A Hollowed Out Heart: Chapter Seven

xxxx

_One month ago..._

No matter how pleasant his disposition, Manami could not help but be intimidated by her Captain. Massive physical presence aside, he was nearly three feet taller than her afterall, the oddly shaped helmet Captain Komamura wore kept Manami on edge. What deformity did the imposing Shinigami perpetually hide? Manami had wondered for all the decades she'd been assigned to 7th Division, but never had the courage to ask. She pushed the nagging question out of her mind for now.

"You wished to speak with me, Manami?" The Captain's powerful voice was in no way muffled by his helmet.

"Yes, sir. Are you aware of the mission I have just recently returned from?"

"Vaguely. Another one of Kurotsuchi's pet projects, something beyond the ability of his technicians, I believe?"

Manami briefly described the objectives of her failed mission and the events leading up to the targeted Hollow's destruction.

"Remarkable," Komamura murmured at the description of the human's spiritual power.

"And there is the crux of my dilemma, sir. Slythe had exceeded the limits imposed upon my actions by threatening the children of the school when the human boy destroyed it. I would have intervened had Ranma not arrived when he did and Slythe still would have been neutralized. I wish to request your permission to submit a falsified report to Captain Kurotsuchi, leaving out only the involvement of the human boys."

"This is a highly unorthodox request, Manami," the Captain rumbled.

"I know, sir," the Shinigami replied hesitantly. "It goes against everything I've been taught as a Shinigami, but I cannot in good conscience draw the attention of 12th Division's Captain to the boys, Ranma especially."

Mayuri Kurotsuchi's perverse fascination with experimenting on interesting subjects was not openly discussed in the halls of the Court of Pure Souls. That did not mean the man's behaviour went unnoticed. There were more explicit rumors fit to give Manami nightmares.

Even hidden behind his helmet, Captain Komamura gave the impression of nodding along with his subordinate's observations. "Your consideration for those we protect is admirable. Though I would be inclined to grant your request, I must first speak with General Yamamoto."

Manami nodded as she tried to keep her expression neutral and to mask the disappointment she was feeling. Her Captain's high regard of General Yamamoto was well known, just as the General's stiff adherence to the rules of Soul Society was legendary. She tried to find comfort in the thought that perhaps Ranma would prove too troublesome a subject for Kurotsuchi to get his hands on.

"Thank you, sir."

xxxx

_The Present..._

There was little difficulty involved in acquiring a copy of the footage captured by Kodachi Kuno during her late night encounter with her beloved. Actually, Tatewaki Kuno found it quite easy, if incredibly expensive. Nabiki Tendo was selling cheaply made video CD copies of the tape by the gross. How she'd managed to duplicate the original footage, despite it being locked away in a police evidence room, remained a mystery.

Standing before the bank of monitors that normally displayed virtually every square inch of the Kuno Estate, Tatewaki gestured for his minion Sasuke to proceed. The little ninja dimmed the lights and inserted the CD.

The greenish-gray light indicative of the camera's nightvision setting bathed the darkened room.

_Kodachi Kuno's face filled the many screens, imperious even in these ignoble circumstances._

_"The Seduction of Ranma Saotome, Volume One," whispered the gymnast dreamily, her eyes glassy with the effects of one or more of her concoctions._

_Kodachi disappeared from view and the camera panned down and to the right, revealing the sleeping form of the unwitting star of the film._

_"My lord Ranma, perfection given form," Kodachi commented. A five minute narrative followed, during which time every imaginable virtue was attributed to the obliviously sleeping teenager. She stopped just short of claiming him capable of walking on water and rising from the dead, though that was left as an open possibility to be discussed in later volumes._

_For a few moments the image girated wildly before Kodachi was satisfied the camera had been affixed to its tripod properly. She walked into the frame, revealing her chosen attire for the first time. The habitual skintight spandex leotard had been replaced with a stiff-boned and tightly laced leather corset, knee high leather boots, and elbow length gloves. Kodachi's pert breasts rested atop the shelf-like bustier, nipples plainly visible, her waist constricted waspishly. A pair of barely existant black lace panties, their lack of material totally failing to hide her shaven sex, completed the ensemble._

_"It has been difficult these past weeks, worshipping Ranma from afar." Kodachi slowly ran a leather clad fingertip up and down the boy's thigh. "How it pained me to see him grieve, his mourning for that harridan Akane Tendo enough to cloud even my lord Ranma's bright eyes. He cannot be blamed, though. The hussy's enchantments were strong and her morals loose. Even sone as masnificent as Ranma could be swayed by such temptation."_

_From a small sachel just out of the camera's field of view, Kodachi drew a small leather case. Opened, it was revealed to contain a disposable syringe and a glass ampuole of an unidentified substance._

_Kodachi went very still as Ranma shifted in his bed, rolling over to more fully face the camera while clutching his pillow tightly. "No, Akane, don't go!" he mumbled urgently, not yet aware of his nocturnal visitation._

_The gymnast did not move nor make even the slightest sound for over a minute, not until she was certain the boy remained sleeping._

_Finally, a fierce scowl transforming her aristocratic features into something ugly, Kodachi spoke,"Even in his dreams my darling is tormented by the bitch's lingering influence." She busied herself with preparing the syringe, carefully measuring an exact dose, then ensured that no air bubbles remained within the cylinder._

_"My most recent success, this substance combines the beneficial aspects of a powerful vasodilator with my favorite muscle relaxing herbal extracts. My lord Ranma surely does not need this artificial enhancement to help pleasure me beyond my physical limits, but it will improve his enjoyment greatly, perhaps even assist in the purging of whatever dregs of forced affection he feels for the foulminded temptress, may she burn in hell for eternity."_

_Slowly, so as not to alarm the sleeping boy's subconscious defenses, Kodachi approached. Kneeling at his bedside, she murmured nonsensical sounds of comfort. The needle slipped into Ranma's thigh and delivered its payload in the blink of an eye._

_Half a minute passed before there was a blur of motion so quick it slid between frames of film, making it appear as if Ranma went from slumber to a near sitting position with no steps in between. Tense and confused for a moment, the camera captured his muscles relaxing and tension fading with unnatural swiftness. Slowly, he fell back to the bed in a near boneless heap._

_The gymnast smiled down at her wide-eyed conquest. "Your constitution is incredible, my darling Ranma, to resist the effects of my creation for so long."_

_Ranma opened his mouth to speak, closed it, then swallowed deeply. With obvious effort, he asked,"Kodachi...what are you...doing?" His words were hoarse and thick with a combination of sleep and pharmaceutical impairment._

_"Shh, relax, let the drugs take full effect." Taking advantage of her immobilized victim, Kodachi shredded his nightshirt with a strong sweep of her arm. Revealed to both girl and camera was a toned torso, no fat visible, just taut skin, muscular perfection, and somehow accentuating all that, a number of scars, some more visible and severe than others._

_"I've waited so long. You can't imagine how I've burned for you, my lord, the sleepless nights of self-abuse I've suffered with your image rooted deeply in my mind." Questing fingers moved from caressing his abdomen to exploring the flesh hidden by a pair of heart covered boxer shorts. "I've wanted this," she squeezed lightly, causing Ranma to spasm,"so badly."_

_"Dammmnit...Kodachi...you bitch...what have you...done to meee!" Ranma squeaked at the girls continued ministrations._

_"Oh my!" exclaimed Kodachi, paying no heed to Ranma's growing anger. "Though it sickens me to imagine that uncouth beast taking pleasure in your body, my lord, I can certainly understand why she would find it so desirable." She eyed the tented boxers with hunger._

_Obviously displeased by his assailant's actions, Ranma continued to struggle against the effects of the injection. Static and digital ghosts began to surround Ranma's prone form as it was lit by a crawling wave of crackling energy. Once enveloped in the sheath of light, Ranma's image was badly distorted, still visible but blurred and choppy._

_"So beautiful, your inner light shows the purity of your affection for me, my love."_

_At those words Ranma's struggle with himself increased greatly, then there was a burst of light and static filled the screen. Nearly a minute passed before the image was restored. The tripod mounted camera had been knocked over. It continued to record, whatever force that had interfered with its operation apparently no longer in effect._

_The angle was not ideal, but half of Ranma could be seen sitting up in his bed, soaked with sweat and breathing hard. He made as if to rise from the bed when Kodachi closed the distance between them, "Why must the whore torment us from the grave?" she demanded angrily, reaching out to Ranma. His arm struck out too quickly for the camera to discern, again crossing the distance without visibly moving. Unseen or not, the strike's results could not be missed._

_Wide-eyed, a stunned Kodachi looked at her forearm where Ranma's had impacted so powerfully. For a moment she was numb with the shock and trauma inflicted, but that could last only so long. Blood sprayed from damaged vessels and bone protruded from torn flesh. She announced her agony to the world in the most simple manner available to her, a piercing shriek of pain and horror._

_"Shut up! Shut up shut up shut up!!!" Ranma roared to the wailing girl. His hand was suddenly at her throat, squeezing, heedless of the girl's lack of air or her good arm's desperate clawing attempts to win free from his grip._

_A flash of light and static overwhelmed the camera, shrouding another short span from view. The image returned to reveal Ranma no longer choking Kodachi. The martial artist was not in the frame, but a gasping, twitching Kodachi, a bloody gaping wound decorating her abdomen, laid twitching on the blood drenched sheets._

Thus the video came to a close.

Sickened for a number of reasons, Tatewaki did not attempt to stand. Somehow maintaining an outward appearance of calm disinterest, he commanded,"Sasuke, you are dismissed."

xxxx

"I don't get it, Nabiki, why are you selling these things?" Ranma asked. He stood before the youngest remaining Tendo. In his hand was a CD in a red paper envelope. The footage contained on the disc was not only embarrassing, it also made him look like a monster.

"I thought that would be obvious, Saotome," she replied, voice cool and without inflection. "My father's hospital bills are enormous and insurance does not cover them in their entirety. There's also the cost of Akane's funeral to consider."

"Don't feed me that line of BS. Mom's told me all about the settlement you guys are getting from the city." Undiscovered pockets of explosive gas hidden beneath the grounds of a high school that lead to a student's death? Yeah, you'd better believe the city was eager to settle out of court.

"And when that money runs out, what then?"

"I don't know, maybe get a job?"

Nabiki rolled her eyes at Ranma's simplicity. "I won't bother to attempt to explain the ins and outs of the Tendo financial situation to you, Saotome. Let it be enough that I don't bill you for wasting my valuable time."

Frustrated by the girl and patience worn thin, Ranma snapped,"Whatever, Nabiki. All I care about is that you stop peddling these things to anyone interested." He gestured angrily with the CD.

"Since when have I ever done what you wanted?"

"Listen, Nabiki, I'm not gonna say this again. You don't have any right to do this. It's an invasion of my privacy! More than that, you're selling a freakin' snuff film to the perverts. What do you think that's doing to their dirty little brains, huh?" Temper well and truly roused, Ranma held the CD up between himself and Nabiki. An effort of will surrounded the envelope and its contents in golden light and with a flash there was nothing left of it but ashes drifting on a stray breeze.

"If I have to, I'll do that to every single copy, and I'll point everyone to you for refunds."

Further discussion was put on hold with the ringing of the final bell that signaled for students to find their homerooms or be considered tardy.

xxxx

Author's Notes: I hadn't planned to elaborate on Kodachi's actions, at least not this much. It was just going to be something that happened out of sight, but enough people seemed interested that I went ahead and fleshed the scene out a bit.

To clear up some confusion, yes, I know that phoenix is not spelled phoneix. Eight or nine years ago when I first made my hotmail account, I was messing around with the computer in my high school French class when I was supposed to be doing something else. I was in a hurry and didn't bother to check my spelling. I noticed the mistake later that day, but was too lazy to correct it. When I started writing fanfiction I decided to just stick with my nom de plume(hmm, I wonder if I'm using that correctly, French never was my strongest subject). So now I have to explain every so often how I got my name


	9. Chapter 8

xxxx

A Hollowed Out Heart: Chapter Eight

xxxx

Cologne had cautioned against it and Happosai had called him a dumbass for even thinking about it so early into his training, but Ranma was about to begin exacting his toll on the Hollow population, not only for Akane's death, but for others who lost their lives to the creatures, even other Hollows who had once been people themselves.

Planning was minimal, Ranma would always be Ranma, no matter how much he learned or how powerful he became, and he was not much of a forward thinker. Still, he did take basic precautions, both for his own safety and that of the general populace. His chosen hunting grounds were far from any inhabited area. He'd been on a train for hours and hiked another half day after that to find this remote mountain location, heavily forested and unlikely to draw spectators. It would be tantamount to committing the crime himself if his actions drew a Hollow and it harmed or even possibly killed another person before he could deal with it.

Of course, the location and its inaccessability rendered the cell phone Ranma's mother had forced on him, in case of an emergency, basically useless. The little communication device could manage a signal well enough, there just wasn't much chance of anyone being able to reach him in time to render medical assistance if he sustained life threatening injuries. Ranma did not worry. Getting hurt was not part of the plan.

The first contingent of Amazons would be arriving within days. Ranma was determined to make use of his Amazon taught knowledge to the detriment of Hollowkind at least once before he was forced to carry out his end of the bargain. To this end, the young man was putting the finishing touches on the last node of a very small, highly compact ward of Amazon design. He'd learned a lot of ki-magic in the past two months, enough to cause Cologne to hurry along her efforts to bring this first group of Amazons ahead of schedule, but he had only the necessary understanding of _how_ to make the magic function, not the _why_. Apparently, that would be the undertaking of decades, not months.

So, just like any ignorant person who can use a computer with perfect proficiency without having the slightest clue how it worked, Ranma created the disfunctional ward without trouble, his ki forming the proper pattern with ease. Unlike others he had learned, this ward did not really _ward_ anything. Flawed in its basic design, the energy construct served as both a bait and beacon. Ranma had essentially marked a point in space with a cosmic "Buffet" billboard and surrounded it with huge blinking neon arrows. The Hollows would come. Unfortunately, he had no way of knowing in what number or how quickly. What's life without a little excitement, anyway?

Today was not only about revenge or impatience. Ranma had been taught to observe his opponents, to find their weaknesses so they could be exploited more easily, and, just as importantly, to learn their strengths, so they could be avoided or better yet, copied and maybe even improved upon. Cologne could talk until she was blue in the face describing past encounters with Hollows and other denizens of the spiritual realms(did Amazon Elders have to memorize the entire three thousand year history of the tribe?), but real world experience could not be bypassed through sheer weight of information. He needed to know how much force was required to shatter a Hollow's mask, how quickly they could escape if wounded, the level of danger presented by a mortally wounded but still functional Hollow...

The list went on and on. And on.

Ranma cracked his knuckles, clamped down tightly on his battle aura, and waited.

It was pure chance that allowed Ranma to see the arrival of the first Hollow. His clearing was not large and the view of the open sky it accorded him was not expansive. He decided to do something about that shortly.

Like a serpent's pupil, a great black slit in the clear blue sky expanded horizontally, growing large enough to swallow a school bus. The hole in space vomited forth a six-legged centauroid Hollow, each of its four upper arms tipped with scythe-like claws. It fit through the slit, just barely.

An arm should do nicely. Before the monster could descend to the Earth below, a nearly invisible blade of nothingness, a vacuum surrounded and sharpened by an envelope of hardened air, cleaved both arms from the falling Hollow's left side. The limbs were amputated as precisely as any surgeon could manage, though on a much larger scale than any would imagine possible.

Hollows could sometimes regenerate great damage with astounding speed, Cologne had said. This Hollow didn't seem to be doing much more than stamping its many hooves madly and bellowing from the grotesque parody of an equine skull that was its mask. The stumps flailed wildly, spraying dark blood like a firehose.

"Is that all you're gonna do, stand there and whine about a litle ole scratch?" Ranma asked, bringing to an end his concealmet. No longer hidden, he stood not more than ten meters from the beast. He took up no stance, his posture totally relaxed.

A few seconds passed without acknowledgement from the Hollow. In that time it stopped losing blood and its wounds went from looking like raw meat to something closer to cooked hamburger. Such wounds scabbing over so quicly was healing on a scale that exceeded anything in Ranma's experience except for Saffron, who was in a class of his own as far as regeneration went. Not too impressive, certainly not enough to restore the lost limbs during combat.

"Argh! You are a fool to anger me, Shinigami scum! I will enjoy devouring you!" announced the Hollow. Ranma had a feeling this would be a common greeting from these guys. Was he going to be mistaken for a Shinigami by every Hollow he met? Did they have no other natural enemies?

"Pfft, don't make me laugh. You wouldn't even be worth my time, bastard, except I'm doing some homework on your kind. You're just a learning experience." Ranma taunted, then he disappeared.

A combination of superhuman speed and a kind of aura projection, a fusion of techniques devised by himself and Happosai, allowed Ranma to cross the distance to the Hollow without actually _crossing_ all that space. It was another technique he knew how to use without understanding the underlying mechanism that made it function. When next he was visible, Ranma hung in space above the hole in the Hollows chest, his target within easy reach. Regeneration was crossed off the list, time for resistance to physical damage.

Carefully internalizing his battle aura, using it only to enhance his strength and physical resilience, Ranma stiffened his fingers into a knife blade and struck with more power than he'd ever used against a human opponent. His knifehand plunged through the iron-like skin as if it were paper, sinking halfway up to the elbow. Ranma was back in his previous position on the ground before his victim could feel the pain of its injury. A brief flare of ki vaporized the Hollow ichor coating his arm and torso.

The Hollow screamed in pain, clutched its chest wound with one of its remaining good arms, and charged Ranma. Surprisingly quick for its size, it was still pathetically slow by Ranma's standards. He dodged aside nimbly and did not interfere as it continued its charge. Okay, that had proved less than productive. Hollows were just too large for the kind of piercing damage he was able to inflict with his much smaller frame. Next up; blunt force.

"Back here, stumpy!" Ranma called, waving an arm and smiling jauntily.

"Argh!" No one ever accused Hollows of being the most verbally articulate monsters on the block.

This time Ranma's attack targeted the creature's right flank. Again using pure physical force, but concentrating on impact rather than penetrating the beast's hide, his flying kick bowed the Hollow nearly in half, collapsing most of what it considered ribs and smashing it more than a dozen meters through the air. It crashed into a series of small trees than ringed the clearing, splintering them while halting its flight. That was far more effective than Ranma had expected. Against other plus-sized opponents he'd fought, such an attack would not have been so devastating nor would anything be knocked back so ferociously. It was almost as if, for all its impressive size, the Hollow didn't have the actual mass(was he using the right word? shoulda paid attention to that teacher afterall) to match its volume?

Sensing the arrival of another Hollow, this one's portal somewhere out of sight, Ranma called out to his current, um, playmate,"It's been fun, but you know what they say, two's company and three's a crowd. You're the crowd." Deciding to forgo testing the fragility of the Hollows mask, there would be plenty more for that, Ranma burned the bellowing monster's head from its shoulders with a three foot wide beam-like extension of his battle aura.

Next Ranma would test how effective hot and cold ki-based attacks were. He hoped the Hollow liked hot and cold running death.

xxxx

Riding the train back to Nerima the following morning, Ranma was uninjured and in good spirits. He hadn't even really managed to expend that much of his energy on the dozens of Hollows he'd destroyed by various means the previous day. The day was actually kind of anti-climatic. Once he'd answered every question about Hollow physiology he could imagine, Ranma had cancelled his lure and cleaned up the few stragglers that showed up over the next hour.

It was obvious that the more intelligent Hollows, those who were able to actually carry on a conversation if they wished, could call upon a wider variety of powers. Ranma had no way of knowing if this was because they were just more powerful, older, or both. Or something else all together. Did Hollows train others of their kind? He shrugged that question aside as irrelevant.

The experiences of the previous day were informative, answering many of the questions Ranma had pondered and some he had not considered. He felt confident that future encounters would go well. There was something about that revelation that was annoying. He had yet to come up against a Hollow that was even close to a challenge. They were all large and powerful, some with many, many tricks up their sleeves, but they were almost always so _stupid_ and not a one had been anything but clumsy. It galled him that such a monster had killed Akane, after everything she'd been through and survived more or less unscathed. Her physical strength alone, which was nothing compared to the likes of Ryoga and several other people Ranma had fought in the last couple years, would have been enough to destroy a lot of the Hollows he'd played with so far.

Why didn't more people fight them? Cologne seemed convinced that very few people, one person per several thousand, could see Hollows. How come such a small sampling of people from Nerima, Kuno, himself, Cologne, and even Happosai, who had possessed the ability but lost it because of his own thieving ways, could see them? Ki awareness was an obvious answer. Those who learned to harness their ki somehow gained an altered perception of the world which allowed them to see certain spiritual entities. Hell, in a little more than two years, Ranma had fought dozens of martial artists who should be able to see Hollows, and nearly every one of them, even those who practiced the more ridiculous aspects of the Art, had the capability to destroy them.

Hollows should be a freaking endangered species.

xxxx

"Satisfied your curiousity yet, Son-in-law?" Cologne did not blink at Ranma's sudden arrival within her meditation chamber. Well, with her eyes closed blinking wasn't much of a concern, but she was in the state of mind where she wouldn't have blinked. Really.

Ranma sighed and joined the ancient Amazon, sitting cross-legged on the opposite side of her little smoking brazier of incense.

"You sound troubled. Did you encounter any difficulties? It couldn't have been too much of an ordeal, as I can sense you have not been harmed and your ki is as abundant as ever."

Cologne did not speak during the silence, allowing Ranma to gather his thoughts. Finally, he said,"They were just so easy to beat, Old Ghoul. You and the perv have taught me a lot, and I'm real grateful. It's just that I could have taken these Hollows without any of that extra stuff. That's an understatement."

It was Cologne's turn to sigh. "There is a simple reason we Amazons do not make a habit of hunting down and destroying Hollows, Son-in-law. Let us say, for now, that you have only encountered the smallest fish in the sea. What is a minnow compared to a shark?"

To Ranma's discomfort, Cologne elaborated.

xxxx

Nabiki ground her teeth with dangerous force, unable to comprehend just how humiliating she was going to make Ranma's death. She was no physical powerhouse with the power to destroy a god, hell, she couldn't even leap over a picnic table in a single bound. She was smart, though, and Ranma had to eat sometime. There were any number of Nabiki would like to see how well Ranma resisted enough rohiptnol to knock an elephant on its ass...and then...hmm...

The enraged teen grunted as the officer escorting her from the school grounds shoved a little too hard. Her foot caught on a loose brick and she was unable to brace her fall since her hands were cuffed, too tightly, behind her back. Nabiki saw stars and felt her nose crunch as her face met unforgiving concrete.

Ranma, prepare to die!

xxxx

Author's Notes: Please be patient, folks. I don't plan on finishing this thing any time soon. It's going to be a long fic if I can manage. That means it may be slow and the time between major events could be frustratingly long. Just bear with me.

Thanks for the reviews, everyone. I'm not a total review whore, but I have to admit I like to see them every so often :)


	10. Chapter 9

xxxx

A Hollowed Out Heart: Chapter Nine

xxxx

"About damned time," Nabiki muttered under her breath as the holding cell door opened. She limply allowed her hands to be cuffed by the pudgy police officer and escorted from her home for the past several hours. Kasumi had at last recieved her message.

A few short minutes passed while Nabiki was out-processed and released into her sister's care. Kasumi had squeeked an utterly predictable, "Oh my!" at the sight of Nabiki's swollen nose and resulting black eyes.

Kasumi thanked the officer at the desk for helping her, by first name no less, and guided her younger sister out of the building. Only when the pair had walked nearly a block in an uncomfortable silence did Kasumi speak to her angrily plotting sibling. "I must apologize, little sister."

Nabiki only half heard the older girl, but turned to regard her more closely, one eyebrow raised inquiringly.

The motherly young woman glanced down, unwilling to meet Nabiki's sullen and strangely raccoon-like gaze. "It's my fault that you were arrested." Hastily, before the startled girl could respond, Kasumi continued. "Ranma came to me last week. He was very upset with you about the CDs you were selling of his encounter with Kodachi Kuno. Poor Ranma, he's not very subtle and has been so thoroughly taught to solve his problems with violence that I feared for your safety, Nabiki."

By now they were no longer walking, standing in the middle of the sidewalk and forcing other pedestrians to move around them. Had she been paying attention to her surroundings, Nabiki would have been gratified to see that several people she was acquainted with chose to cross the street to avoid confronting the obviously angry Tendo.

"I promised Ranma that I would punish you, Nabiki, to keep him from doing something drastic. He really was very angry," she finished quietly.

"So you had me arrested!" Nabiki exclaimed, never expecting Kasumi of all people to turn her into the authorities. "Do you know how humiliating it was to be hauled out of the school in handcuffs? Look at my face!" Her fists balled in rage, Nabiki entertained the thought of punching her sister. Ler her see how it felt to have a broken nose. "Thanks to you, sister," she hissed the last word with malice,"I might end up with felony charges on my record. Do you have any idea what that does to my future?"

Kasumi sighed wearily, her young shoulders stooped under her sister's bitter glare. "Nabiki, sister, please don't be so angry. You're not in trouble. Mrs. Tanaka from the market, her son is the chief of police, she helped me talk him into frightening you. He was very angry that you had stolen sealed evidence, but agreed not to press charges if you turned over any remaining copies you have and informed him of who helped you get it in the first place."

The weight that lifted from Nabiki's shoulders was immense, but she could not release her anger. It was the only thing keeping her from crying in relief. Nabiki Tendo does not cry. Not in public.

xxxx

To occupy his mind and keep it from straying to what awaited him very shortly, Ranma played back Cologne's words from their first conversation after concluding his fact finding Hollow hunt. Menos, the ancient Amazon called them. Hollows of enormous power and even greater size, they were the reason that Amazons so carefully avoided the corrupted monsters. Only two had been encountered in the entire history of the Amazon nation, and while both had been forced to flee, it took the concerted effort of many experienced warriors to drive the beast back to its home plane. The cost in lives was incredible.

The last Menos the Amazons fought, more than seven centuries earlier, had apparently been attracted to a massive upwelling of spiritual energy coming from Jusenkyo caused, Cologne speculated, by an almost unheard of planetary alignment, whatever that was. There would not even be a name for the over-sized Hollows if a patroling Shinigami hadn't been in the area. The Shinigami and a dozen Amazons had died in the effort to repulse the Menos.

Could he defeat so powerful a creature? Ranma reflexively told himself that he could do so with little problem. He recognized his overconfidence, such was his nature, and cursed himself for not being more apprehensive. He should still be frightened! It was unnatural and stupid, he knew, to actually be looking forward to a confrontation with a three hundred foot tall super Hollow. How could he be more scared of the unknown Amazon who would be walking through the door any moment now to relieve him of his virginity than of the thought of fighting the Godzilla of corrupted souls?

The door knob began to turn. Ranma really wished he could faint on command.

xxxx

"So, how was it, boy?" Happosai queried, a lecherous little grin turning his wrinkled face even more troll-like.

Ranma resisted the urge to giggle hysterically. He wasn't a pervert, damn it! Using the Soul of Ice to lock away thoughts of warm, creamy flesh and soft little moans of pleasure, the young martial artist glared at his instructor without answering the question. "You gonna help me with this or not?"

Happosai sighed in disappointment and nodded. He'd pout later. If he looked pathetic enough he could maybe even convince Kasumi to give him a hug. Mmmm...

"Okay, you ungrateful lout, show me this new technique of yours."

"It's not new. It's one of your techniques. I just made it better."

"I find that hard to believe. Feel free to demonstrate, though."

The construction sight they had appropriated, one of many in Nerima, was pretty much abandoned until new financial backers could be found to continue funding the project. It wasn't a bad training ground. Ranma found a nearby chunk of broken concrete slightly smaller than a bowling ball and tossed it to the skeptical old man.

"Hold that out to the side and watch closely. Tell me if you can see what I'm doing wrong."

The boy's battle aura became visible and from his outstreched palm a hazy golden tendril of ki began to extend towards the debris resting in Happosai's hand. It took a few short moments to cross the distance, but when it did, once the slightest contact was made, the concrete was blasted out of the perverts hand with astounding violence. Eyes widened, Happosai tried to turn to follow the projectile's path while sucking on his painfully scraped fingertips. Even with his inhuman speed, he was unable to view the rock before it smashed into an upright steel I-beam. The beam and the structure it was helping to support held together, but the beam itself was badly dented and nothing remained of the projectile but a rapidly dissipating cloud of dust.

"Color me impressed, boy. The Butterfly Kiss on steroids, eh?" He chuckled at his lame joke. "I can't really see what you think you're doing wrong, though. That was a very efficient conversion of ki energy into physical force. Couldn't have done any better myself," he complimented.

"It's the speed of the attack," Ranma complained. "Any slower than that and whatever the probe touches will explode. Any faster and it just burns a hole through the target. I've got plans for this technique, some real good stuff, but none of 'em will do squat if I can't get this to work right."

Happosai nodded, his brow furrowed in understanding. "I think I've got an idea of what you're doing wrong. You learned to transform your ki into kinetic energy too quickly. You don't have any experience with delaying or extending the conversion."

Ranma scowled. He'd learned something _too_ fast? How did that make any sense? If anyone would know, however, it would be Happosai. He had, afterall, invented the Butterfly Kiss in the first place. "Great. Let's get started."

"Not so fast, Ranma!" Damn, the little perv was leering again. "You want assistance with your new technique? Well, I want details about your first night of carnal adventures with that hot Amazon number I saw talking to Cologne yesterday!"

Grrr...

xxxx

Tears leaked from the eyes of the centuries old martial arts master. He was so proud of his student. And so very, very jealous.

xxxx

Even if Cologne had allowed Ranma to weaken or even dispel the spirit wards responsible for protecting Nerima and a good portion of the surrounding area, as per Happosai's suggestion, he would not have done so. There was no guarantee that he could destroy all the Hollows that might enter the city at any time. He wasn't a light sleeper. No telling what mischief a Hollow could get into while he slept, or ate, or bathed. Really, it was a daunting thought, imagining himself trying to defend such a large area. Shinigami had a tough job. He didn't envy them.

Since he couldn't just waste days to find some nice uninhabited area to lure a few Hollows to whenever he wanted to test a new method of ki manipulation, Ranma had to work around such limitations. He'd begun creating alarm wards in the neighboring districts, as time permitted, that would mentally alert him to the presence of his prey. His network was small, however, and growing slowly. For now, Ranma would stick with the construction sight he and Happosai had recently adopted for his training.

A leisurely half hour passed while he dug a shaft into the bare earth and levered a stray steel beam into it. He was no physical powerhouse like Ryoga -where was the lost boy anyway, no one had seen him in months- but it didn't prove to be much of a strain handling the beam's great weight. Ranma had just finished packing the dirt and gravel tightly around his soon-to-be target's base when an unmistakable keening wail filled his mind. A Hollow would trip an alarm just as he finished readying his target. Typical.

Judging by the intervals between the mental wails, the direction they seemed to be originating, and their distinct tone, Ranma guessed his prey was somewhere in Karakura. Not exactly close to Nerima. If he pushed himself it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect to make the trip in twenty minutes. Perhaps he would be able to intercept it before any lives were lost?

With one last sour glance at the now superfluous steel beam, Ranma shrouded himself in his battle aura, took a deep breath, and _moved_.

xxxx

There was a lot less physical effort involved in Ranma's method of travel than one would imagine. Each step required little more than a leap, but allowed him to cover hundreds of feet instantly. The toll such speed exacted on his ki reserves was considerably greater. Despite the energy drain, he arrived in Karakura without dangerously diminishing himself. According to his wrist watch, a manual device that required winding periodically(prolonged exposure to his developing battle aura did unfortunate things to electronics), seventeen minutes had passed from the time he'd left the construction site to the outskirts of his destination. Not bad.

Ranma silenced the small ward carved into the base of the lamp post at his feet with a deft stroke of ki then damped his aura down to a near resting level. It tended to drown out other spiritual presences and he needed his senses at their fullest to further home in on the Hollow. Once he'd narrowed down the direction of his enemy, Ranma flared anew with golden radiance.

Less than a minute passed before the martial artist found the object of his ire. It stood atop a multi-story parking garage, it's form surprisingly human-like, if you overlooked the size, the gaping hole in its mid-section, and the tentacle-like hair. Though its victim did not appear capable of seeing her tormentor, the Hollow was taking great delight in terrorizing the middle-aged woman. Destroyed automobiles were a testament to the many places she had tried to hide from her invisible assailant. Clever even in the face of supernatural assault, she dodged a half-hearted swing from the beast's clawed hand by judging its location from the foot prints of crushed concrete it left in its wake.

Before the monster could come any closer to the fleeing woman, Ranma interposed himself between her and the Hollow.

"Hey, big fella," Ranma greeted with false cheerfulness, his eyes gleaming with what even the Hollow could recognize as malicious anticipation. Momentarily confused by the interruption of its fun and the strange greeting, the Hollow stood immobile as Ranma turned to the woman he'd just saved and said,"Now would be a good time to get the hell out of here, lady."

Wide, frightened eyes regarded the glowing boy for a long moment, he was afraid she'd chosen now to go into shock, but she pulled herself together, nodded once, and made a mad dash for the stairwell.

"You only delay the inevitable. She will be mine again, boy," rasped the Hollow in a surprisingly quiet and articulate tone of voice. "But first, I shall make a snack of your pitiful soul."

Ranma didn't restrain his laughter. "Buddy, if you knew how many times I'd heard that from one of you guys and what happened afterwards, you'd be running for your pathetic life." The boy's battle aura did not increase in size, but it grew much brighter, partially obscuring his features. When next he spoke, Ranma's voice was distorted, taking on a more guttaral quality. "It just so happens I've got a new trick I want to try out and you're the perfect guinea pig."

"Ha, do your worst, human!" Lunging forward, the Hollow attempted to impale Ranma with an arm that stretched like taffy, reaching dozens of feet like a deadly living missle. Ranma negligently batted the limb away and blasted the creature off its feet with a wave of ki.

"You shouldn't be so eager to die, Hollow." He paused beforing speaking the ironically named latest addition to his arsenal. "Hell Butterfly Swarming Kiss," Ranma whispered, his blazing palms held out toward the prone monster. Hundreds of streamers of ki, each no thicker than a human hair, exploded into the air in a dense, writhing mass. The streamers fanned out, stretching their full length to fill the air with a glowing curtain of ethereal golden light, then directed by Ranma's will, each and every one angled toward the Hollow. It was over in a moment, the energy filaments striking simultaneously from all angles, each delivering enough pure kinetic energy to pulverize concrete into dust.

The Hollow exploded into a cloud of bloody black mist.

xxxx

His presense carefully suppressed, Kisuke Urahara observed the confrontation from a nearby rooftop. The Hollow had been grossly overmatched by the human boy. A mental command returned Benihime, his zanpakuto, to her disguised form as a cane. The boy's intervention had forstalled his cleansing of the Hollow. Acting on impulse, the Earthbound Shinigami exile flash stepped to the battered parking garage, careful not to appear too closely to the boy, lest he provoke an attack.

He had a feeling this would be an interesting meeting.

xxxx

Author's Notes: Sorry about the another short chapter and the long delay between updates. The past few weeks have sucked. Real Life deciding to be difficult, you know? I want to try to get back onto a regular update schedule if I can manage it. Wish me luck.


End file.
